On this day in 1999 Arsenal took on Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final replay. Both teams were at the height of their powers and locked in a battle for silverware back in the days when the world stopped to watch the clashes between the two Premier League heavyweights. Read on for memories of that time…

The 1998/99 season started brightly for Arsenal after memorably clinching the double the year before in Arsene Wenger’s first full season in charge.

The Charity Shield was won 3-0 in convincing fashion against the previous season’s runners-up to the Gunners, Manchester United, with goals from Marc Overmars, Chris Wreh and Nicolas Anelka. It was also the first time a southern team had won the shield outright since 1962, while defeat marked the Red Devils’ first loss in a Wembley curtain raiser in seven games.

Arsenal then repeated the emphatic scoreline in September, trouncing United at a sunkissed Highbury - during Freddie Ljungberg’s goalscoring debut - which made it a day to remember all round, prompting Wenger to say afterwards: “It was definitely our best performance for some time. We had our offensive power back.”

Arsenal's 1998/99 FA Cup campaign

With both titans battling for league supremacy over the winter, Arsenal kicked off their FA Cup campaign with a 4-2 victory over Preston at Deepdale on a Monday night through goals from Luis Boa Morte, Overmars and a brace from the influential Emmanuel Petit – a win which made the mind-numbing six hour overnight journey back to London a tad more bearable for this particular fan.

Wolves were dispatched 2-1 at a lively Molineux in the fourth round, through goals from Overmars and Dennis Bergkamp – with another highlight for me being the fact my friends and I made it through the notorious subway near the ground without too much mishap.

The ‘shenanigans’ with Sheffield United in the fifth round after a 2-1 victory at Highbury, saw Wenger graciously allowing a rematch following one of the most notorious goals in cup history.

A replayed game was necessary after an eager Kanu broke an unwritten rule by harrying a throw-in back to the visitors after an injury to a Blades player.

While it was the right thing to do, it was felt by many Gooners that other teams, most notably Spurs, singularly failed to match such standards when a similar incident was mirrored by Andy Sinton during a north London derby at Highbury in 1996.

(Another culprit was Chris Sutton for Blackburn two seasons previously. Indeed Sutton’s behavior in taking the ball from a Nigel Winterburn throw which was supposed to be uncontested led to a late equaliser which subsequently robbed Arsenal of a Champions League spot.)

As it was, the Blades boss at the time, Steve Bruce, showed little grace or gave Wenger scant credit for his magnanimous gesture, instead moaning that the rematch should have been at Bramall Lane not Highbury.

To quell the noise Arsenal disposed of their visitors with little fuss, their second 2-1 victory over the Yorkshiremen that month, memorable for Bergkamp’s audacious chip and, thankfully for once, little else, before a nondescript 1-0 triumph over Derby at Highbury in the quarter finals teed up an eagerly-awaited semi-final clash with the Red Devils.

Arsenal vs Manchester United, Villa Park

The initial match at Villa Park on the Sunday ended in a fractious 0-0 draw with both teams cancelling each other out, the only real action of note was Nelson Vivas’ expulsion. I recall sitting behind the dugouts in the old stand at Villa Park that lunchtime - the previous time I sat there was for the second replay of the League Cup saga with Liverpool in 1988.

(As an aside it was a real shame, not to mention an act of architectural vandalism as much as the work of a dreadful philistine, when the then Villa chairman Doug Ellis tore down that grand old stand – complete with the Victorian façade and Archibald Leitch’s famous wrought iron balustrades – only to build an soulless identikit stand which said as much about Ellis’ bland pretentions as the club’s ambitions.)

Yet Villa Park in 1999 was the perfect stage for the replay three days later as the two best teams in the land clashed in what would be one of the most momentous ties in the competition’s history.

Arsenal vs Manchester United line-ups

It proved to be a defining fixture for Wenger – not only for the disappointment of what they could have achieved that season in terms of silverware – but for the energizing effect it had on Ferguson’s victors, propelling them to what would be the finest month in their history.

Arsenal: Seaman: Dixon, Winterburn, Keown, Adams; Vieira, Petit (Bould), Parlour (Kanu), Ljungberg; Bergkamp, Anelka.

Unused subs: Vivas, Lukic.

Manchester United: Schmeichel, Neville (P), Johnsen, Stam, Neville (G); Beckham, Butt, Keane, Blomqvist (Giggs); Sheringham (Scholes), Solskjaer.

Unused subs: Irwin, van de Gouw

Referee: David Elleray

Attendance: 30,223.

This match will be talked about as long as the FA Cup exists.

It had everything. Great goals, a sending-off, a last-minute missed penalty, teak-tough midfield battles, world class footballers with stunning techniques and a simmering bitter rivalry bordering on the edge of impropriety.

And even if many diehard Gooners have never re-watched the game - because it hurts too much - the fact is, on the night, it was as exciting a match as anyone could have wished to see between the two undisputed giants of English football at the time.

David Beckham opens the scoring

David Beckham opened the scoring after playing a neat-one-two with the man many Arsenal supporters loved to hate, Teddy Sheringham, before curling a precise shot past David Seaman’s despairing dive and into the net from 25 yards.

The pedantic Harrow schoolmaster David Elleray then proceeded to book four players in seven minutes which, while overly officious, perhaps calmed rising tempers and reminded many of the protagonists they were there to play, not to avenge slights, perceived or otherwise.

With only 21 minutes left to go in an absorbing tie, Dutch master Bergkamp fired a shot which took a substantial deflection off United’s Jaap Stam, finishing beyond their big Danish keeper and into the net – to send the 15,000 or so travelling Gooners at the ground into raptures.

Myself and other friends had this time opted to sit in the upper tier of the stand Ellis was to demolish and I recall leaping around uncontrollably at the equaliser which made it 1-1, firmly believing the momentum was now with Arsenal.

(I also recall being so wrapped up in proceedings before kick-off I failed to visit the old programme hut in that stand, full of interesting and unusual publications which normally would have seen me pouring over them and their fascinating minutae.)

Tide appears to turn in Arsenal's favour

The tide appeared to turn further when combustible old foe Roy Keane was sent-off with 16 minutes left, after he picked up a deserved second yellow card - this time for an ill-judged lunge on the sprightly Overmars, who had only recently replaced Ljungberg.

As Arsenal stepped up the pressure, roared on by their superb travelling support, something had to give. So it was to prove. Parlour dribbled into the box, fuelled mostly by instinct and adrenaline at that stage. Similar to every single player on both sides across the two matches during 180 minutes of intense battle - and counting - on that energy-sapping Villa Park turf, the Romford Pele had given his all and had very little in the tank.

Yet his marker Phil Neville was just as spent, making a tired effort to stop him as Parlour cut inside, felling him in the box. Elleray pointed to the spot and with fewer than 60 seconds remaining Bergkamp stepped up to take the penalty which could, should and would, surely send Arsenal to Wembley where an insipid Newcastle side awaited.

Dennis Bergkamnp's penalty

The spot kick was of undeniably huge importance to both teams.

If Bergkamp scored, Arsenal would reach the cup final for the second year in a row - while denying United the chance of a double, or heaven forbid, a possible treble. A victory over Ferguson’s men would also deflate the Red Devils’ morale at a crucial stage of the season, which would surely impact their jockeying with the north Londoners for the title.

A defeat for the Old Trafford side at that crucial juncture in that season would also have dented, if not removed, their normally unfailing certainty in their talents which all winning teams possess, a necessity when faced with apparently insurmountable odds during the times when, for example, late goals are required in Champions League finals.

Quite simply, if Bergkamp were to score, United’s hopes of a treble would be forever dashed, with the victory surely propelling Arsenal to another title – and a second successive double. Yet, if he were to miss…

From my upper tier seat I recall feeling calm. Confident that one of the best players in Arsenal’s history would seal the tie.

Villa Park stilled as the enormity of the situation was understood by all in attendance – for in psychological terms if Wenger’s men could beat United, the damage done to their morale would be incalculable in the title run in, not to mention their Champions League hopes against an excellent Bayern Munich team at the Nou Camp at the end of May.

Bergkamp, who had not played in the 1998 FA Cup final because of injury, ran towards the ball. Ominously for the Dutchman and Arsenal, Schmeichel, also aware of the importance of the moment, looked loose-limbed and alert – yet far more relaxed than a rapidly tensing Bergkamp, knowing that keepers in such spell-binding situations have absolutely nothing to lose.

The Dutchman connected beautifully with the ball, hitting it firmly to the keeper’s right-hand side. The ball looked to be heading into the net – but to the agony of every Arsenal supporter in the ground and watching across the globe – the big Dane made the save of his life, guessing correctly to dive full length to prevent the ball from entering the net. It was a sliding doors moment.

Disbelief as Bergkamp's penalty is saved by Schmeichel

I recall standing in disbelief in the moments after the save as I attempted to process what had happened.  What was more galling for me wasn’t the fact the ball had failed to enter the net, more the notion that we had been denied a certain cup final. Maybe there wasn’t much of a separation between the two notions, but for me, at that particular moment at Villa Park, the distinction felt acute, the chasm enormous.

We had been prevented from reaching Wembley because of a last minute penalty save. From a Bergkamp penalty no less. I was stunned more than upset. I simply couldn’t understand what had happened. A Bergkamp miss? Surely not. It was as if the laws of the universe had been overturned. All the things I held to be true had been dashed. As I surveyed the scene – the delirium of the equally stunned United fans across from us contrasted by a hopelessly despondent Bergkamp - I recall slumping to my seat, all energy and hope drained, awaiting the certainly of the final whistle and the trial of 30 minutes of an utterly unnecessary extra time.

On such moments titles, trophies - and history - are decided.

United, galvanised by Arsenal’s spot-kick failure, looked the stronger side in the opening 15 minutes of extra time. And so it was to prove as they took the lead when energetic substitute Ryan Giggs intercepted a tired cross-field pass from Vieria on 109 minutes.

Giggs proceeded to waltz through a desperately fatigued Gunners defence, where one stalwart after another underlined their exhaustion by failing to prevent the progress of the United attacker.

I recall thinking surely he would be stopped by someone in his path – anyone. But as the unfolding horror played out none of our defensive leviathans could muster enough energy to block the far fresher Giggs, or indeed haul him down.

And so Giggs simply continued his improbable run towards the heart of the Arsenal defence. Until he found the time and space to fire the ball past Seaman and into the roof of the net.

Perhaps Seaman could have stood taller for a fraction longer. Perhaps Adams could have jockeyed more effectively. Or Dixon been tighter. Or Vieria not been so sloppy. But ‘could have’, ‘should have’, ‘would have’, cut no ice on that night. And still doesn’t with me. For our heroic footballers had given their all over two intense matches and had nothing left to offer. Of course, even now I can’t watch that goal. It’s far too painful. But equally, I don’t blame anyone. How can you when your titans have given everything to the cause and had nothing more in reserve?

As the ball hit the net, Giggs, reflecting a strange few seconds, lost all inhibitions by running along the opposite touchline bare-chested after flinging his top off in celebration – only to reveal a surprisingly hirsute torso as a smattering of jubilant United fans invaded the pitch in triumph.

The match ended shortly afterwards, marked by many Arsenal players slumping to the floor in disappointment. I was gutted. Yes, gutted – for there is simply no other word in the football lexicon to perfectly describe such a feeling. I recall silently staring out onto the pitch, opting to watch the United celebrations far more than studying the dejected Arsenal reactions, as they were far too painful to observe in any detail, or for too long.

For my friends and I, it was a long car ride home, mostly in silence, punctuated by outbursts of shock, disbelief and distress.

Disappointment not dishonour

The general feeling was that there was no shame for anyone associated with Arsenal in losing such a dramatic tie. Immense disappointment yes, dishonor, never.

However, what the result would mean for both sides during the momentous end to the 98/99 season, was soon to be apparent, when a lacklustre Arsenal fell to a calamitous 1-0 defeat under floodlights at a raucous Elland Road a week or so later blowing their title hopes – while United wrote their names into the history books forevermore by landing an unexpected treble.

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