Game #4697
Sunday, 6 January 2002
Attendance: 38,444
Lost
FA Cup 3rd Round
3rd Round
Manchester United
Last 5: 🟥 🟥 🟨 🟥 🟥
Villa Park
Villa lose in the FA Cup third round against Manchester United despite being two goals to the good with 13' left to play as the victors celebrate like they've won the League, Cup and Champions League treble on one night.
Aston Villa
2-3
Manchester United
Assist(s) | Not recorded
KEY MAN
Ian Taylor, drove in
PREVIOUS MATCH
NEXT MATCH
MATCH TIMELINE
🟨 | 21’ Booking, Darius Vassell
🕒 | HT Aston Villa 0-0 Manchester United
⚽ | 51’ Goal, 1-0, Ian Taylor
⚽ | 53’ Goal, 2-0, Own Goal, Gary Neville
🥅 | 77’ Goal, 2-1, (Manchester United), Ole Gunnar Solskjær
🥅 | 80’ Goal, 2-2, (Manchester United), Ruud Van Nistelrooy
🥅 | 82’ Goal, 2-3, (Manchester United), Ruud Van Nistelrooy
🔁 | 86’ Sub off, George Boateng, Sub on, Gareth Barry
🔁 | 86’ Sub off, Alan Wright, Sub on, Steve Stone
🔁 | 86’ Sub off, Paul Merson, Sub on, Mustapha Hadji
🕒 | FT Aston Villa 2-3 Manchester United
ON THIS DAY
Villa go two goals up only to lose as heartbreak in the FA Cup causes seismic reactions around Villa Park. Meanwhile, Schmeichel concedes three for the fourth time this season.
Aston Villa
European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
UEFA Cup / Europa League: ❌
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: ❌
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1995-96
Manchester United
European Cup / Champions League: 🏆🏆
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆
Last Trophy: 2000-01
FIXTURE HISTORY
Manchester United
Previous 5 vs. United: 🟥 🟥 🟥 🟥 🟨
FIXTURE DETAILS
Season | 2001-02 |
Matchday | #32 |
Manager Game | #188 |
Sunday, 6 January 2002
MATCH SUMMARY
Manager: John Gregory | 🏴 | Scunthorpe, 1998-2002
Referee: Graham Poll | 🏴 | Hertfordshire, 1991-2007
Kick off:
HT Score: 🟨 0-0
FT Score: 🟥 2-3
FT Result: 🟥 Lost
Last 5: 🟥 🟥 🟨 🟥 🟥
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Graham Poll | 🏴 | Hertfordshire, 1991-2007
Previous 5: 🟨 🟩 🟥 🟥 🟨
Last Match: 🟨 17 Apr 01, Villa 3-3 Charlton (a)
Cards: 🟨 🟨
CARDS
TEAM NEWS
George Boateng, Paul Merson and Juan Pablo Ángel return for Dion Dublin, Steve Stone and Hassan Kachloul.
TEAM STATS
Starting XI Average Age
| 28.44 |
Oldest Player |
GK Peter Schmeichel | 🇩🇰 | 38.16 |
Youngest Player |
RB Jlloyd Samuel | 🏴 | 20.79 |
MANAGER
MANAGER
John Gregory | 🏴 |
Alex Ferguson | 🏴 |
Aston Villa
GK Peter Schmeichel | 🇩🇰 |
RB Jlloyd Samuel | 🏴 |
LB Steve Staunton | 🇮🇪 |
LB Alan Wright | 🏴 | 🔁 |
CB Olof Mellberg | 🇸🇪 |
M Ian Taylor | 🏴 | ⚽ |
M George Boateng | 🇳🇱 | 🔁 |
M Paul Merson | 🏴 | 🔁 |
M Lee Hendrie | 🏴 |
F Darius Vassell | 🏴 | 🟨 |
CF Juan Pablo Ángel | 🇨🇴 |
Manchester United
GK Roy Carroll | 🇬🇧 |
RB Gary Neville | 🏴 |
RB Phil Neville | 🏴 |
CB Laurent Blanc | 🇫🇷 | 🟨 |
LB Mikaël Silvestre | 🇫🇷 |
M Juan Sebastián Verón | 🇦🇷 |
M Nicky Butt | 🏴 | 🔁 |
M Roy Keane | 🇮🇪 |
M Paul Scholes | 🏴 |
W David Beckham | 🏴 |
CF Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 🇳🇴 | ⚽ |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 M Gareth Barry | 🏴 | for M George Boateng | 🇳🇱 |86’ |
🔁 M Steve Stone | 🏴 | for LB Alan Wright | 🏴 | 86’ |
🔁 M Mustapha Hadji | 🇲🇦 | for M Paul Merson | 🏴 | 86’ |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 | M Nicky Butt | 🏴 | (M Luke Chadwick | 🏴 |)
🔁 | M Luke Chadwick | 🏴 | (CF Ruud van Nistelrooy | 🇳🇱 | ⚽ | ⚽ |)
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Peter Enckelman | 🇫🇮 |
RB Mark Delaney | 🏴 |
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Raimond Van Der Gouw | 🇳🇱 |
CB John O'Shea | 🇮🇪 |
M Michael Stewart | 🏴 |
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 6/11
Homegrown: 3/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 9/16
Homegrown: 4/16
MATCHDAY SQUAD
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 8/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 8/16
MATCHDAY SQUAD
UNAVAILABLE
Not recorded
UNAVAILABLE
Not Recorded
Player Abbreviations:
GK : Goalkeeper
LB, RB, FB : Left Back, Right Back, Full Back
CB, D : Centre Back, Defender
M, W : Midfielder. Winger
F, CF : Forward, Centre Forward
🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game
Symbols:
⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution
🟨 | Booking
🟥 | Sending off
🆘 | Poor refereeing performance
DEBUT APPEARANCES
FINAL APPEARANCES
MATCH STATS
Not recorded
TABLE
PROGRAMME



MATCHDAY QUOTES
"We handed them the opportunity to get back into the game and I'm still finding it difficult to come to terms with the fact that we've not won."
John Gregory.
*The Guardian*
Monday, 7 January, 2002
Van Nistelrooy breaks Villa in three-goal comeback
Manchester United snatch victory from jaws of defeat as Beckham is restored to the starting line-up
Manchester United answered one fusillade of goals with another here last night to deprive Aston Villa of a victory which would have revived their flagging season. Two goals down with 13 minutes remaining and another early exit from the FA Cup beckoning, United scored three times in five minutes to earn a fourth-round visit to Wimbledon or Middlesbrough.
Until that point it looked as if Sir Alex Ferguson’s side would once more find themselves swept out of the Cup by a dash of claret. Taking their cue from West Ham, United’s conquerors in the fourth round at Old Trafford last season, Villa had found the net twice in two minutes early in the second half.
What it is to have golden options. Ferguson had left Ruud van Nistelrooy on the bench to nurse a groin strain but he brought the Dutchman on once Villa had scored their second goal.
Some groin injury! After Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had given United a glimmer of hope in the 77th minute Van Nistelrooy won them the tie with sublime pieces of finishing in the 80th and 82nd and in so doing became the first United player to score in seven successive matches. His total for the season is now 21.
Thus an initially tepid tie ended up performing an extraordinary double somersault. Even by United’s standards of escapology it was an outstanding recovery.
Thus Villa suffered much as they had done at Arsenal in the Premiership a month earlier, when they led 2-0 only to lose after two late goals from Thierry Henry. Had Juan Pablo Angel accepted a chance to put Villa further in front the contest might have been beyond even United’s reach. Then again, who knows?
United set out to outpass their opponents. The theory seemed to be that the longer Villa were denied the ball the less they would know what to do with it. Yet though this probing football was pleasant to watch it threatened only in theory. There was neither Ryan Giggs, resting a hamstring, to provide the ammunition nor, initially at any rate, Van Nistelrooy to fire the shots.
Nevertheless United should have taken the lead in the 37th minute and had already lost Nicky Butt, another groin victim, forcing Ferguson to reorganise. Paul Scholes joined Roy Keane in a deeper, more central role and the substitute Luke Chadwick offered United a more plausible alternative to Giggs on the wing.
When Solskjaer caught Villa’s defence square with a finely angled pass Chadwick was the recipient, springing through in the inside-right position. He should have scored; his shot beat Peter Schmeichel but also missed the far post.
Within a minute of the second half Keane’s quick pass sent Chadwick clear but only to waft a shot over. It was a miss soon regretted. Villa, having spent half the game striving to unlock United, now leant against the door and opened it with a couple of nudges.
When Angel drew Laurent Blanc and Gary Neville out of position as Lee Hendrie sent a short pass through, Ian Taylor was well placed to hold off Phil Neville’s challenge and drive in a shot under Roy Carroll.
Scarcely had United recovered their wits than they were two goals down. This time a canny lob from Paul Merson caught their defence square and, with Taylor lurking, Phil Neville’s header back caught Carroll out of position and compounded United’s problems with an own-goal.
Ferguson’s immediate substitution of a substitute, replacing Chadwick with Van Nistelrooy, was accompanied by echoes of stable doors closing; false echoes as it turned out. Yet had Angel managed to touch in a chest-high cross from Darius Vassell just past the hour Villa might have felt safe.
A glimpse of salvation was all United required and, once Mikael Silvestre had set up Solskjaer to force his way in front of Olof Mellberg to score, survival was always a possibility. Then possibility quickly became probability as David Beckham headed down a cross from Scholes and Van Nistelrooy took the ball on his chest before driving it into the net.
The rest was predictable. A through-pass from Solskjaer and there was Van Nistelrooy again, calmly rounding Schmeichel to roll in the winner.
Ferguson and the United bench understandably went berserk. Less forgivably, some United fans held up play by invading the pitch.