Eric Cantona Hits The Winner

Eric Can­tona

Although the 1996 FA Cup Final at Wemb­ley between old rivals Manchester United and Liv­er­pool prom­ised to be the high­light of the sea­son, it never quite lived up to expect­a­tions. The first great chance of the match fell to Manchester United when a flick from Eric Can­tona presen­ted Andy Cole with a golden oppor­tun­ity to score. In front of a 79,000 Wemb­ley crowd, the anxious attacker failed to hit the ball prop­erly and it came to noth­ing at all.

Liv­er­pool hit back in style when Stan Col­ly­more almost opened the scor­ing, put­ting Peter Schmeichel to the test with a fierce drive at goal. Shortly after the half time break David James dis­played a piece of superb goal­keep­ing when he denied Manchester United cap­tain Eric Can­tona a goal with a mag­ni­fi­cent save. The Mer­sey­siders then had an oppor­tun­ity to take the lead when Jamie Redknapp fired a tre­mend­ous shot goal­wards, but the ball went straight at Peter Schmeichel in the Manchester United goal. After spend­ing most of the after­noon squan­der­ing qual­ity scor­ing chances, Andy Cole was even­tu­ally sub­sti­tuted by Paul Scholes in the 63rd minute of the encounter. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. With only five minutes left, the Liv­er­pool goal­keeper tried to punch a corner clear and the ball landed at the feet of Eric Can­tona who found the back of the net with a tre­mend­ous right footed half vol­ley. Although hardly a clas­sic final, the French play­maker made it all up by scor­ing the goal that won Manchester United a second double in three seasons.

Manchester United History