2001 FA Cup Final 2001 FA Cup Final The 2001 FA Cup Final was a football match between Arsenal and Liverpool on 12 May 2001 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. It was the final match of the 2000–01 FA Cup, the 119th season of the world's oldest football knockout competition, the FA Cup, and the first in the competition's history to be staged outside England, due to the ongoing reconstruction of its usual venue, Wembley Stadium. Arsenal appeared in their fourteenth final to Liverpool's twelfth. Given both teams were in the highest tier of English football, the Premier League, they entered the competition in
1982 FA Cup Final meant that they had then won the FA Cup seven times – matching the record set by Aston Villa 25 years earlier. It also preserved their unbeaten record in FA Cup finals. Tottenham's Argentinian player Ricky Villa decided not to play in the final because of the ongoing Falklands War. The first game was a tense and largely dull game of few clear cut chances. QPR's young goalkeeper Peter Hucker was certainly the busier keeper although Spurs were mainly being kept to long range efforts. Hucker's performance in the first match would ultimately earn him the Man of the Match