The FA Cup's dream final yesterday became a mouth-watering semi after Arsenal were paired with Manchester United in the last four, a draw which will ensure that a club currently in the English League will compete in next season's UEFA Cup.
The Premiership champions meet the Cup holders at Villa Park next month in a re-run of their 1999 semi-final, won spectacularly by Ryan Giggs in extra-time of the replay, to leave Alex Ferguson facing up to the chilling prospect of being denied silverware on three fronts this term by the Gunners.
The other semi-final will be contested by Mick McCarthy's Sunderland and either Tranmere Rovers or Millwall, with that tie to be replayed at Prenton Park next Tuesday. Given that Arsenal top the Premiership and United currently sit 16 points clear of fourth-placed Newcastle, both clubs should qualify for next season's Champions League, meaning that whoever meets them in Cardiff will be guaranteed a UEFA Cup place.
Ferguson, whose side faces Arsenal in the league a week earlier, said: "There's a closeness between the two sides that's been emphasised in the last few matches - two draws and one victory each in the last four games. Their form has been better than ours this year, but a semi-final at Villa Park? That's a good venue for us."
It will need to be. Arsenal are the Premiership's champions-elect and nine points clear of United, with the swagger they demonstrated in the 5-1 thrashing of Portsmouth in Saturday's quarter-final suggesting they could yet emulate the treble secured by United in 1999.
Meanwhile, Celtic must wait for their Scottish Cup semi-final opponents after being paired with the winners of the Aberdeen v Livingston tie in the last four.
Dunfermline have been paired with cup specialists Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the last four.
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