Iconic Moments in Football No. 23
This week’s Iconic Moment in Football comes from the 1991 FA Cup Semi Final between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.
The Semi Final was the first to be played at Wembley as it was the only ground that was big enough to host the game. Traditionalists were up in arms, claiming that having the Cup Semi Final at Wembley took away the value away from getting there for the Final.
Back in 1991, the semi finals were always hosted at a neutral club’s ground, unlike today where both Semi’s are played at the national stadium and have been since 2007.
Arsenal were in fine form in the First Division, having only lost the one game in the league all season. They were top of the league and firm favourites to get past their arch-rivals at Wembley.
Tottenham weren’t doing all that well in the league, sitting in eighth position going in to the semi-final. They did, however have England World Cup heroes Paul Gascoigne and Gary Lineker in their team.
Gazza and Lineker were part of the England team who won the nation’s hearts in their run to the World Cup Semi-Final the previous summer. The pair were an integral part of the Tottenham side in the Cup run.
77,893 fans were packed into Wembley on 14th April to see the Semi-Final. It was the opening goal of the game that will live long in the memory and become one of the greatest FA Cup goals.
Anders Limpar fouled Paul Stewart at least 35 yards out from goal and Paul Gascoigne stepped up to take the free kick.
He took a long run up before unleashing a powerful shot that flew past the wall and David Seaman into the top corner of the net.
Gazza went running off in celebration, heading straight for the Tottenham bench. Terry Venables, who was the Spurs boss at the time, said that Gascoigne came running over to him screaming “He only tried to save it!”, seemingly shocked that David Seaman made an attempt to get to the ball.
Seaman later said that the studs in his boots got caught in the Wembley turf and so he couldn’t get to the ball in time. It seems like a bit of a feeble excuse and perhaps the former England number 1 should have just admitted that he was beaten by a great goal.
Gascoigne’s goal was shortly added to by Lineker to give Spurs a 2-0 lead and really knock the stuffing out of their rivals.
Alan Smith got one back for Arsenal but Lineker scored a second to confirm that it would be Spurs who would return to Wembley for the Cup Final the following month.
The goal from Gascoigne would be the most memorable that he would score for years. That was until five years later when he scored a fantastic goal against Scotland in Euro ’96.
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