Arsenal's Last Fig Leaf Torn Away!
The Red Rebels Frustrate Arsenal Again!
The following morning, almost every major sports newspaper in England devoted extensive coverage to the previous afternoon's FA Cup final.
Arsenal's defeat was certainly painful for their supporters, but judging from the match itself, New Manchester United had fully earned their victory despite spending long stretches under pressure.
As The Guardian pointed out, Mourinho had already identified the weaknesses in Wenger's setup before kick-off.
Hleb's fluid positioning was designed to attack the space Ashley Cole left behind whenever he pushed forward, while Villa had been selected specifically to exploit the lack of pace in the ageing partnership of Keown and Luzhny.
Both choices ultimately shaped the match.
The Man of the Match award went to Juninho.
Although he had not directly contributed to the winning goal, his influence over the full ninety minutes had been enormous.
Alongside De Rossi and Essien, he helped New Manchester United control the most important areas of midfield. His defensive work was excellent, and several of his forward passes created dangerous attacking situations.
At the other end of the ratings, Ljungberg was widely regarded as Arsenal's poorest performer.
His inclusion was considered one of Wenger's biggest disappointments.
Ashley Cole, however, received much of the blame for the defeat.
Several of New Manchester United's most dangerous counter-attacks came through the space he left behind, including the move that produced the only goal.
"His attacking ability is beyond question," The Guardian wrote.
"But his defensive positioning remains a potential weakness.
"Even so, Arsenal's biggest problem still lies at centre-back.
"With Keown and Luzhny approaching the end of their careers, Wenger must bring younger blood into the defence.
"There are reports that Arsenal are interested in Curtis Davies and John Terry after their outstanding performances in the final.
"But everyone knows Arsenal simply cannot afford them."
That assessment was difficult to argue with.
As Curtis and Terry continued to improve, their market values rose accordingly.
More importantly, Ethan had already made it clear that neither player was for sale.
An owner who did not need the money.
Two players who had no desire to leave.
Everyone understood how difficult it would be to take either of them away from Newton Heath.
There were also rumours that Wenger wanted Kolo Touré.
Those reports were quickly dismissed as well.
Kolo had been one of New Manchester United's most important defenders throughout the season.
After winning the FA Cup, Ethan did not organise any extravagant celebrations.
The following day at the training ground, he simply gathered the first-team squad and announced that the £2 million FA Cup victory bonus would be distributed among the players.
The dressing room immediately erupted.
Every promise Ethan had made had now been honoured.
The promotion and First Division title bonuses had been paid immediately after they were secured.
The FA Cup bonus followed the same way.
Only one prize remained.
The UEFA Cup.
The final was scheduled for May 21 at 20:45 at the Estadio Olímpico in Seville.
While announcing the latest bonuses, Ethan reminded the players what victory would mean.
If New Manchester United defeated Celtic, they would complete an extraordinary treble while still playing in England's second tier.
A league title.
The FA Cup.
And a European trophy.
They would write themselves permanently into football history.
Ethan also promised that the full UEFA Cup victory bonus would be distributed among the squad.
That sharpened everyone's focus immediately.
The only concern was physical condition.
Celtic had enjoyed far more rest.
New Manchester United had only just come through a gruelling FA Cup final against Arsenal.
Even so, Mourinho appeared completely confident.
...
Arsenal had failed to win the FA Cup, unlike in Ethan's previous life.
That one change immediately began producing consequences he had never expected.
Over the next two or three days, the transfer market shifted rapidly.
Wenger had clearly been shaken by the vulnerabilities in Arsenal's defence.
David Seaman had already decided to leave.
And with Čech unavailable because Ethan had no intention of selling him, Wenger moved quickly and signed Jens Lehmann from Borussia Dortmund.
Lehmann was already an experienced goalkeeper, but he had performed well in Germany that season.
Arsenal also completed deals for two highly rated youngsters Wenger had been tracking for some time.
Philippe Senderos.
Gaël Clichy.
Francis Jeffers, meanwhile, was prepared for a loan move back to Everton.
Arsenal had spent heavily to sign him, but his development had stalled.
Wenger hoped regular football elsewhere might revive his career.
All of that was broadly similar to what Ethan remembered.
The real changes came afterwards.
Three days after the FA Cup defeat, Arsenal announced that captain Patrick Vieira had signed a new contract.
This time, the club had clearly made significant financial concessions to keep him.
The defeat in Cardiff had apparently reminded Wenger just how important Vieira was to Arsenal.
The renewal came much earlier than Ethan remembered.
And it immediately triggered another chain reaction.
Real Madrid had spent months pursuing Vieira.
Once the French midfielder renewed with Arsenal, Madrid publicly acknowledged that signing him that summer was no longer realistic.
Florentino Pérez immediately changed course.
Claude Makélélé had been demanding a pay rise.
Rather than allowing the dispute to continue, both sides compromised and reached a new agreement.
Vicente del Bosque reportedly described Makélélé's renewal as Real Madrid's best signing of the summer.
Not long afterwards, Florentino also announced that the club intended to begin renewal talks with both Fernando Hierro and Del Bosque.
Following discussions with his manager, he confirmed that Real Madrid would seek reinforcements at centre-back and in creative midfield.
For the defensive position, Madrid were considering several major names.
Lilian Thuram of Juventus.
Jaap Stam of Lazio, who was believed to be open to a move.
Lúcio of Bayer Leverkusen.
Walter Samuel of Roma.
Cristian Chivu of Ajax.
Top-class centre-backs were increasingly difficult to find.
After Alessandro Nesta's move to AC Milan, Fabio Cannavaro had been troubled by injuries.
Rio Ferdinand was firmly established at Manchester United.
Sol Campbell remained committed to Arsenal.
That shortage pushed transfer fees higher across the market.
Real Madrid had also considered Terry and Curtis.
That interest disappeared after Florentino personally called Ethan.
Ethan's answer could not have been clearer.
Neither player was leaving.
Of the defenders linked with Madrid by Marca, Stam and Samuel appeared the most attainable.
Both Lazio and Roma were under serious financial pressure and needed to raise money.
But Real Madrid would face competition for Stam from clubs such as AC Milan and Juventus.
The search for a creative midfielder was equally complicated.
And once again, Real Madrid found themselves competing directly with Barcelona.
Both Spanish giants were monitoring several of the same players.
Real Sociedad's emerging star Xabi Alonso.
Porto playmaker Deco.
And Juninho.
Deco had been the creative heart of Porto's UEFA Cup run and had helped them reach the semi-finals.
Juninho had gone one step further.
He was preparing for the final and had a genuine chance to finish the season as a European champion.
His agent was Juan Figer, one of the most influential figures in Brazilian football.
Figer also had a strong relationship with Florentino.
He had played an important role in Ronaldo's move to Real Madrid.
Then there were the biggest names of all.
Ronaldinho.
David Beckham.
Real Madrid and Barcelona were competing for both.
By now, Beckham's departure from Manchester United appeared almost inevitable.
The biggest question was no longer whether he would leave.
It was where he would go.
Barcelona desperately wanted him.
There were even reports that Manchester United chief executive Peter Kenyon had privately reached an agreement giving Barcelona first refusal if Beckham was sold.
Beckham himself had chosen to escape the speculation.
He had gone on holiday and was then expected to travel through Asia with Victoria on a commercial tour.
He understood that leaving Manchester United was becoming unavoidable.
Now he simply had to decide where his future would be.
Manchester United's asking price was reportedly £25 million.
For a player of Beckham's quality and global commercial value, that was hardly excessive.
Ferguson intended to use much of the money to pursue Ronaldinho.
The domestic season had barely ended, yet the transfer market had already exploded into life.
And with Abramovich closing in on Chelsea, the Premier League's summer spending race was only beginning.
...
Against that backdrop, the UEFA Cup final received surprisingly little attention outside Britain.
Once Lazio and Liverpool had been eliminated, many European observers had described the final pairing as commercially underwhelming.
New Manchester United from England's second tier against Celtic of Scotland.
The competition had unexpectedly produced an all-British final.
British supporters naturally treated it as a major event.
The newspapers sent large reporting teams to Spain.
Thousands of fans prepared to travel to Seville.
But across much of Europe, the real headlines belonged to the transfer market.
Beckham.
Ronaldinho.
Vieira.
Makélélé.
Possible Galáctico signings.
Compared with that, New Manchester United against Celtic looked almost modest.
If the superstar transfers of Beckham and Ronaldinho were Hollywood blockbusters, then the UEFA Cup final was more like a critically acclaimed independent film.
It might win awards.
But it was never going to dominate the box office.
Nobody at New Manchester United cared.
For them, the match meant everything.
Win, and they completed the treble.
Martin O'Neill was an excellent manager.
Under him, Celtic played with tremendous organisation and fighting spirit.
On paper, however, Ethan believed New Manchester United possessed the stronger squad.
Several Celtic players were familiar to him.
Chris Sutton, formerly of Chelsea.
Henrik Larsson.
Stiliyan Petrov, who would later move to Aston Villa.
O'Neill was expected to use Celtic's familiar 3-5-2.
Larsson and Sutton would lead the attack.
Petrov would operate in midfield and serve as one of Celtic's main creative influences.
Mourinho, meanwhile, stayed with his preferred attacking structure.
Drogba started as the centre-forward.
Robben and Hleb occupied the wings.
Kaká played behind the striker.
Juninho and Essien formed the midfield base.
The back four consisted of Evra, Terry, Curtis, and Philipp Lahm.
Čech started in goal.
Mourinho's plan was straightforward.
Attack Celtic through the wide areas.
A three-man defence naturally struggled to cover the full width of the pitch.
That was one of the reasons the system had become less common at the highest level.
O'Neill compensated by demanding that his wide midfielders retreat aggressively.
Without the ball, Celtic could effectively become a back five.
With two central midfielders protecting them, as many as seven players could become involved defensively.
That organisation had made Celtic extremely difficult to break down throughout the competition.
New Manchester United, however, had already demonstrated their attacking power.
Their 4-0 demolition of Lazio at Old Trafford had been widely described as one of the finest performances of the entire UEFA Cup campaign.
Celtic knew exactly what they were facing.
Just like the FA Cup final, this promised to be another contest between attack and defence.
Only this time, the roles were reversed.
New Manchester United were the spear.
Celtic were the shield.
(To be continued.)