Pizzagate: How Cesc Fabregas Once Threw A Pizza At Sir Alex Ferguson In The Battle Of The Buffet
Football, a sport of passionate confrontations and legendary rivalries, has witnessed numerous unforgettable moments both on and off the pitch.
Among these moments is the infamous ‘Pizzagate’ incident, when a pizza was thrown at Sir Alex Ferguson, during a scuffle in the Old Trafford tunnel, following a fiery game against Arsenal in 2004.
The Context: High Stakes at Old Trafford
Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal side travelled to Old Trafford on 24 October 2004, on a 49-game unbeaten run in the Premier League.
The rivalry between United and Arsenal was at its peak, with Arsenal’s antics at Old Trafford the season before, after Ruud Van Nistelrooy missed a penalty, fresh in the memory.
We had narrowly missed out on ending Arsenal’s invincible hopes the previous season; Van Nistelrooy’s penalty would likely have won the game, and when he missed it, the Arsenal players didn’t hold back.
The Football Association fined Arsenal £175,000 and suspended Keown, Lauren, Patrick Vieira and Ray Parlour for a collective nine games; Tensions had boiled over that day, and the same tension was expected going into the game in 2004.
The Match: Controversy and Confrontation
As expected, the match was fiercely contested, as United tried to stop Arsenal making it 50 unbeaten.
In his autobiography, Wayne Rooney said: “All week Arsenal had been banging on about how great it will be to make it to 50 games unbeaten at Old Trafford. Big mistake. They fired us up. Fifty games unbeaten? No way. Not at our place.”
United players were physical, as we tried to unsettle the Arsenal team.
Ex-Arsenal winger Jose Antonio Reyes previously recalled: “In all my sporting life, I have never received so many kicks as I did in Manchester. It was the hardest match I have played.”
United ended up winning the game 2-0, with 2 late goals from Rooney and Van Nistelrooy.
The Pizza Incident: Battle Of The Buffet
The action didn’t stop after the final whistle; Tensions between the two sides boiled over again, and a scuffle broke out in the tunnel, which led to a pizza being thrown at Sir Alex Ferguson.
Sir Alex recalled in his 2013 autobiography: “Ruud van Nistelrooy came into the dressing room and complained that Wenger had been giving him stick as he left the pitch. Right away I rushed out to say to Arsene: ‘You leave my players alone.’ He was incensed at losing the game.”
“That was the reason for his combative behaviour. ’You should attend to your own players’, I told him. He was livid. His fists were clenched. I was in control, I knew it.”
“Anyway, the next thing I knew I had pizza all over me…They say it was Cesc Fabregas who threw the pizza at me but to this day, I have no idea who the culprit was.”
The Aftermath: Mystery and Revelations
For many years, it was unconfirmed who had thrown the pizza, until 2017, when Cesc Fabregas finally admitted to being the culprit on tv show ‘A League of Their Own’.
The Spaniard said: “Martin Keown is a liar because I saw him in front of me just, like, punching people so he didn’t see anything. All of a sudden, I heard noises and I thought what’s happening? So I go out with my slice of pizza and I saw Sol Campbell, Rio Ferdinand, Martin Keown… everyone pushing each other.
“I was like I want to get in but I don’t know how to and I just threw it. Once I saw it was hitting, like, who it was hitting, which I didn’t mean. I apologise Sir Alex, really didn’t mean to do that.”