CUP FINAL PRESSBOX

THE INDEPENDENT - LEHMANN THE HEARTBREAKER

It always felt like a day in which history would be made and Arsenal won the FA Cup for the 10th time yesterday when the competition was decided on penalties for the first time.

Quite how Arsenal did triumph will leave Manchester United and their manager Sir Alex Ferguson disbelieving for days to come. For two hours, United dominated - with Wayne Rooney the man of the match - but could not breach the Arsenal defence before succumbing in a shoot-out. Paul Scholes was the only taker to miss, with Jens Lehmann, possibly in his last Arsenal appearance, saving low to his right for a 5-4 win on penalties after a scoreless draw.

Much of the build-up had concentrated on the takeover of United by American tycoon Malcolm Glazer and Ferguson said he would "sit down with the owners" to ascertain what funds were available. "It is early days," he said, before announcing that he would not be meeting his new employer before he goes off on holiday.

The rest of the pre-match attention had talked about the contest as if it was a boxing match, with a tasty undercard headed by Vieira versus Keane. Ferguson complained that the Arsenal captain should have been dismissed but instead referee Rob Styles made Jose Antonio Reyes only the second player to be red-carded in the final. He follows on from United's Kevin Moran in 1985 and, like him, it will be up to the Football Association to award him a winner's medal. Moran was denied one.

The statistics continued to tumble. Despite the attacking weapons on display, it was the first goalless final since 1912 and the first since 1993 to go to extra-time - when Arsenal were winners as well.

When Rooney is named man of the match, which takes some achieving when you're on the losing side, and any number of his team-mates, but notably Cristiano Ronaldo, Rio Ferdinand and Roy Keane, could have been lining up for second place, there is something seriously amiss. Could it be a judgement from the heavens on Malcolm Glazer? No doubt in the particularly embittered minds of those who oppose his takeover, that seed of thought may already be propagated.

What the outcome, achieved by dint of Jens Lehmann's denial of Paul Scholes in the penalty shoot-out, should not do is diminish the impact of United's Merlin minor. Those of us of an age to recall it refer to the 1979 Wembley confrontation between these clubs as the "Five-minute final", with the majority of the crucial action, culminating in Alan Sunderland's winner for the Gunners compressed into those final electrifying seconds. Yesterday, as we bade our farewell to this splendid venue, which for five years has been a little piece of England on this still sacred day in May, we departed reflecting on the Rooney Fina

What a way to settle a consolation prize. What a way to separate the two biggest hitters in this historic competition. What a way for the FA Cup to be decided. For the first time in its long and illustrious life, it came down to penalties.

With the shootout locked at 4-4, but United a kick down after Paul Scholes' effort had been parried by Jens Lehmann, Patrick Vieira and Roy Keane passed each other on the walk of footballing hell - the long march between the centre circle and the penalty spot.

These two captains and symbols of their teams didn't exchange a word. A glance. Both knew what was at stake. Vieira belted his spot-kick past Roy Carroll. United had dominated the preceding 120 minutes, but Arsenal showed the mental strength to overcome the hex United had held over them. Defeated three times by them this season, this made it all worth it.

After the past two FA Cup finals - relatively forgettable affairs won by the competition's big two against Southampton and Millwall - this felt like a mammoth occasion: The enmity, the history between these particular players, the urgency for a silver lining to the season and, of course, the Glazer effect.

While the travelling supporters of the London club brandished Stars and Stripes flags and chanted 'USA, USA', the Mancunian protest was low-key, even if it was noticeable that, in the age of replica shirts, never have so few been worn by fans of a Cup finalteam. One banner - 'You will never own me' - summed up the mood: pointed but not poisonous.

Never mind the penalties, this was the Wayne Rooney final. Not as exciting as the Stanley Matthews final, granted, and highly unlikely to be remembered in 50 years' time, but Rooney did all that could be reasonably expected of a 19-year-old in his first FA Cup showpiece.

Put it like this. Without Rooney's contribution everyone would have been asleep. As it was we were all wondering whether this supposedly explosive confrontation had been deliberately doctored to prevent any more overseas investors taking an unwelcome interest in English foot ball. It was the most soporific of Cup finals, never mind meetings between Arsenal and Manchester United, until the youngest player on the United side decided this was not the occasion he had spent his young life dreaming about.

Perhaps it was the American influence, but United's fans were noticeably less raucous than they were this time last year against Millwall. With the traditionally quiet Arsenal support only occasionally stirring themselves into taunts of 'USA', and both teams almost tiptoeing around in their anxiety to prevent the game following the usual script, the first half was as tepid as a Beer Lite until Rooney took a hand.

Stationed unproductively on the right wing at the start of the game, Rooney spent the first half hour as a spectator before realising United were looking to him to produce something. The teenager was still with Everton 12 months ago, yet although Paul Scholes sprayed the ball around and Cristiano Ronaldo clearly had the beating of Lauren, Kolo Touré and anyone else Arsenal put at right back, United only began to look dangerous when Rooney came inside and started demanding the ball.

United were the better team for all bar the shootout, and while they will feel hard done by, they only had themselves to blame. They chiselled out enough chances to have won it with something to spare, which is the story of their season. They may have been a tad unlucky when Rio Ferdinand had a "goal" chalked off for offside and when Wayne Rooney, the man of the match, shot against a post, but there can be no excuses for Ruud van Nistelrooy and Paul Scholes spurning the sort of openings once regarded as their stock in trade.

Arsenal, second best throughout, will be pinching themselves today at their good fortune. From their viewpoint, the hero of the afternoon was Jens Lehmann, their much-criticised goalkeeper, who made three top-notch saves during the match, from Rooney (twice) and Scholes, then kept out Scholes’s penalty. The mundane nature of what preceded it made the shootout the highlight, however unsatisfactory the tie-breaker may be.

A couple of minutes from the end of regular time, it was announced that Rooney was the FA’s man of the match. There was a murmur of approval around the Millennium stadium, a somewhat low-key recognition for something most people expected. He is still just a kid but the kid has already become a phenomenon.

How can we expect a 19-year-old to be the best player in an FA Cup final and how can he then deliver the performance that justifies the expectation? He did not deserve to on the losing side yesterday; neither did Cristiano Ronaldo, nor Keane but especially him. Consider for a moment the context of Rooney’s achievement. He was playing in his first FA Cup final, surrounded by world-class players on both sides and yet he was meant to be the man.

Conscious of the threat he posed, Arsenal tried to restrict his opportunities and put a dent in his confidence. Three times in the first 20 minutes he was fouled, first by Vieira’s deliberately robust challenge and then by a lunge from Ashley Cole that earned the England leftback a yellow card.

It would have rattled a lesser man, provoked a fiery reaction from another, but Rooney was utterly disciplined. Eighteen minutes passed before he was given the opportunity to take on Cole. In an instant he flicked the ball past the full-back and, panicked into crudeness, Cole whipped the legs from under his rival. That was Cole’s yellow card but it was the signal for United to get on the ball more often and supply the gifted Rooney.

They came dressed for a wake, and that is what they got. Wearing black clothes in protest at Malcolm Glazer's takeover at Old Trafford, Manchester United's supporters were left mourning the loss of a Cup final in a penalty shoot-out after dominating throughout. Never can the phrase 'lucky Arsenal' have been so appropriate.

It was Paul Scholes who missed the penalty that handed the Cup to United's great rivals and left Ferguson's men without a trophy to show for the season's efforts, though they were left to rue two missed chances by Ruud Van Nistelrooy - one towards the end of normal time and one during the extra period

Instead, they were frustrated by Arsenal who showed little attacking enterprise. Cristiano Ronaldo broke down in tears as the Arsenal players celebrated in a human pile-up in front of the United fans..

Before the match, leaflets were distributed to United fans urging them to fight Glazer's "temporary occupation of Old Trafford" by refusing to buy club merchandise, cancelling MUTV subscriptions and boycotting the club's sponsors.

However, the demonstrations the authorities feared could escalate into a pitch invasion never materialised. Although large numbers of United fans heeded the call to observe the black dress code, with some going further by waving black flags and releasing black balloons, their revolutionary zeal quickly melted away.

The last time the two teams met, at Highbury, their mutual dislike erupted into a tunnel altercation before a ball had even been kicked. Yesterday it took 120 minutes of football before referee Rob Styles had to get tough. In the dying seconds, Jose Antonio Reyes became only the second player to be sent off in a Cup final after Kevin Moran in 1985 when he picked up his second yellow card.

Yet, despite tempers fraying during extra time, it was a curiously passionless match. In a forgettable first half, goal opportunities were restricted to a three-minute spell of Rooney-inspired United pressure that began when Jens Lehmann could only parry the teenager's shot. Rio Ferdinand rammed home the rebound but was correctly judged to be offside.