‘You know Wayne dived for the penalty’ – Former Arsenal star still angry at Invincibles loss at Man United

Even though it’s been 16 years, one former Arsenal star still hasn’t forgiven Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney for diving to win the penalty that eventually saw the Red Devils end the Gunners’ Invincibles run.

When Arsene Wenger’s side visited Old Trafford back in October 2004, they were unbeaten in 49 Premier League games, however, a feisty match against Sir Alex Ferguson’s charges, later dubbed ‘Pizzagate,’ ended in defeat for the North London outfit.

Cesc Fabregas, an unused sub that day and who later identified himself as the pizza thrower on the Sky TV programme, A League of their Own, cited by Sky Sports, seems to still harbour a grievance at losing the record at the home of their fiercest rivals at the time.

“We were so disappointed, we were angry, we were upset for the way it (the game) went,” Fabregas said to Rio Ferdinand, on FIVE’s new Locker Room YouTube series, cited by The Sun.

“Don’t get me wrong, it had to come to an end the Invincibles, the 49 games, and it can happen. It was at Old Trafford, against a great team, against a great Manchester United team.

“But I think it’s the way it happened. First of all, Gary Neville, what he did to [Jose] Antonio Reyes, mamma Mia!

“[…] You know Wayne dived for the penalty against Sol [Campbell].

“So we felt emotional. The emotion was that we lost against a great team, which can happen, but we didn’t feel we should have lost. We didn’t think it was the right time to lose our Invincible run.

“So yeah that was the main thing to be honest. Everyone was really, really upset.”

All good things do, evidently, have to come to an end, and as epic as that unbeaten run was, it was going to finish sooner or later.

Perhaps the circumstances in which it did end weren’t the best as far as Arsenal were concerned, but you’d have thought with everything that’s happened in Fabregas’ career since, that he’d be over the disappointment by now.