United 02/03

The 2002–03 season was Manchester United’s 11th season in the Premier League, and their 28th consecutive season in the top division of English football. This season saw the club finish at the top of the Premier League table, after their lowest finish in the history of the Premier League the previous season, when they came third. In order to win the title, the team had to pull Arsenal back from an eight-point lead at the beginning of March. United also finished as runners-up in the League Cup, with Liverpool eventually taking the prize. The club also broke the English transfer record for the third time in just over a year as they paid £29.1 million for Leeds United defender Rio Ferdinand.

At the end of the season, United midfielder David Beckham decided to move to Real Madrid in a £25 million deal, having spent 12 years at United (eight of them as a first-team regular). Meanwhile, 37-year-old centre-back Laurent Blanc announced his retirement from playing. Fellow centre-back David May was finally given a free transfer after nine years at the club, the last five of which had seen his first team opportunities limited to a handful of appearances.

Pre-season and friendlies

Date	Opponents	H/A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
20 July 2002	Shelbourne	A	5–0	Van Nistelrooy (3) 17′, 20′, 63′, Forlán 22′, Yorke 60′	10,000
27 July 2002	Chesterfield	A	5–0	Blanc 19′, Van Nistelrooy 54′, Forlán 80′, Keane 83′, Richardson 86′	6,583
27 July 2002	Bournemouth	A	3–2	Verón 33′, Muirhead 61′, Stewart 66′	8,104
30 July 2002	Vålerenga	A	2–1	Solskjær 26′ (pen.), Keane 84′	25,572
2 August 2002	Ajax	A	1–2	Scholes 78′	48,000
4 August 2002	Parma	N	3–0	Giggs 23′, Verón 50′, Solskjær 55′	48,000
6 August 2002	Aarhus XI	A	5–0	Van Nistelrooy (2) 44′, 80′, Solskjær 71′, Giggs 81′, Forlán 87′	20,500
10 August 2002	Boca Juniors	H	2–0	Van Nistelrooy (2) 23′, 40′	56,724

Premier League

Date	Opponents	H/A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance	League position
17 August 2002	West Bromwich Albion	H	1–0	Solskjær 78′	67,645	7th
23 August 2002	Chelsea	A	2–2	Beckham 26′, Giggs 66′	41,541	7th
31 August 2002	Sunderland	A	1–1	Giggs 7′	47,586	8th
3 September 2002	Middlesbrough	H	1–0	Van Nistelrooy 28′ (pen.)	67,464	4th
11 September 2002	Bolton Wanderers	H	0–1		67,623	7th
14 September 2002	Leeds United	A	0–1		39,622	10th
21 September 2002	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1–0	Van Nistelrooy 62′ (pen.)	67,611	8th
28 September 2002	Charlton Athletic	A	3–1	Scholes 54′, Giggs 82′, Van Nistelrooy 90′	26,630	4th
7 October 2002	Everton	H	3–0	Scholes (2) 86′, 90′, Van Nistelrooy 90′ (pen.)	67,629	4th
19 October 2002	Fulham	A	1–1	Solskjær 62′	18,103	4th
26 October 2002	Aston Villa	H	1–1	Forlán 77′	67,619	4th
2 November 2002	Southampton	H	2–1	P. Neville 15′, Forlán 85′	67,691	3rd
9 November 2002	Manchester City	A	1–3	Solskjær 7′	34,649	5th
17 November 2002	West Ham United	A	1–1	Van Nistelrooy 38′	35,049	5th
23 November 2002	Newcastle United	H	5–3	Scholes 25′, Van Nistelrooy (3) 38′, 45′, 53′, Solskjær 55′	67,625	5th
1 December 2002	Liverpool	A	2–1	Forlán (2) 63′, 66′	44,250	4th
7 December 2002	Arsenal	H	2–0	Verón 20′, Scholes 72′	67,650	3rd
14 December 2002	West Ham United	H	3–0	Solskjær 15′, Verón 17′, Schemmel 61′ (o.g.)	67,555	2nd
22 December 2002	Blackburn	A	0–1		30,475	3rd
26 December 2002	Middlesbrough	A	1–3	Giggs 60′	34,673	3rd
28 December 2002	Birmingham City	H	2–0	Forlán 37′, Beckham 73′	67,640	3rd
1 January 2003	Sunderland	H	2–1	Beckham 81′, Scholes 90′	67,609	2nd
11 January 2003	West Bromwich Albion	A	3–1	Van Nistelrooy 8′, Scholes 22′, Solskjær 55′	27,129	2nd
18 January 2003	Chelsea	H	2–1	Scholes 39′, Forlán 90′	67,606	2nd
1 February 2003	Southampton	A	2–0	Van Nistelrooy 15′, Giggs 22′	32,085	2nd
4 February 2003	Birmingham City	A	1–0	Van Nistelrooy 56′	29,475	2nd
9 February 2003	Manchester City	H	1–1	Van Nistelrooy 18′	67,646	2nd
22 February 2003	Bolton Wanderers	A	1–1	Solskjær 90′	27,409	2nd
5 March 2003	Leeds United	H	2–1	Radebe 20′ (o.g.), Silvestre 79′	67,135	2nd
15 March 2003	Aston Villa	A	1–0	Beckham 12′	42,602	2nd
22 March 2003	Fulham	H	3–0	Van Nistelrooy (3) 44′, 68′, 90′	67,706	2nd
5 April 2003	Liverpool	H	4–0	Van Nistelrooy (2) 5′ (pen.), 65′ (pen.), Giggs 78′, Solskjær 90′	67,639	2nd
12 April 2003	Newcastle United	A	6–2	Solskjær 32′, Scholes (3) 34′, 38′, 52′, Giggs 44′, Van Nistelrooy 58′ (pen.)	52,164	1st
16 April 2003	Arsenal	A	2–2	Van Nistelrooy 24′, Giggs 63′	38,164	1st
19 April 2003	Blackburn Rovers	H	3–1	Van Nistelrooy 20′, Scholes (2) 42′, 61′	67,626	1st
26 April 2003	Tottenham Hotspur	A	2–0	Scholes 69′, Van Nistelrooy 90′	36,073	1st
3 May 2003	Charlton Athletic	H	4–1	Beckham 11′, Van Nistelrooy (3) 32′, 37′, 52′	67,721	1st
11 May 2003	Everton	A	2–1	Beckham 45′, Van Nistelrooy 79′(pen.)	40,168	1st

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Manchester United	38	25	8	5	74	34	+40	83
2	Arsenal	38	23	9	6	85	42	+43	78
3	Newcastle United	38	21	6	11	63	48	+15	69

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H/A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
4 January 2003	Round 3	Portsmouth	H	4–1	Van Nistelrooy (2) 5′ (pen.), 82′ (pen.), Beckham 16′, Scholes 89′	67,222
26 January 2003	Round 4	West Ham United	H	6–0	Giggs (2) 8′, 29′, Van Nistelrooy (2) 49′, 58′, P. Neville 50′, Solskjær 69′	67,181
15 February 2003	Round 5	Arsenal	H	0–2		67,209

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H/A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
5 November 2002	Round 3	Leicester City	H	2–0	Beckham 80′ (pen.), Richardson 90′	47,848
3 December 2002	Round 4	Burnley	A	2–0	Forlán 35′, Solskjær 65′	22,034
17 December 2002	Round 5	Chelsea	H	1–0	Forlán 80′	57,985
7 January 2003	Semi-final First leg	Blackburn Rovers	H	1–1	Scholes 58′	62,740
22 January 2003	Semi-final Second leg	Blackburn Rovers	A	3–1	Scholes (2) 30′, 42′, Van Nistelrooy 77′ (pen.)	29,048
2 March 2003	Final	Liverpool	N	0–2		74,500

UEFA Champions League

Third qualifying round

Date	Round	Opponents	H/A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
14 August 2002	Third qualifying round First leg	Zalaegerszeg	A	0–1		40,000
27 August 2002	Third qualifying round Second leg	Zalaegerszeg	H	5–0	Van Nistelrooy (2) 6′, 76′ (pen.), Beckham 15′, Scholes 21′, Solskjær 84′	66,814

Group stage

Date	Opponents	H/A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Group position
18 September 2002	Maccabi Haifa	H	5–2	Giggs 10′, Solskjær 35′, Verón 46′, Van Nistelrooy 54′, Forlán 89′ (pen.)	63,439	2nd
24 September 2002	Bayer Leverkusen	A	2–1	Van Nistelrooy (2) 31′, 44′	22,500	1st
1 October 2002	Olympiacos	H	4–0	Giggs 19′, Verón 26′, Anatolakis 66′ (o.g.), Solskjær 77′	66,902	1st
23 October 2002	Olympiacos	A	3–2	Blanc 21′, Verón 59′, Scholes 84′	13,220	1st
29 October 2002	Maccabi Haifa	A	0–3		22,000	1st
13 November 2002	Bayer Leverkusen	H	2–0	Verón 42′, Van Nistelrooy 69′	66,185	1st

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Manchester United	6	5	0	1	16	8	+8	15
Bayer Leverkusen	6	3	0	3	9	11	−2	9
Maccabi Haifa	6	2	1	3	12	12	0	7
Olympiacos	6	1	1	4	11	17	−6	4

Second group stage

Date	Opponents	H/A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Group position
26 November 2002	Basel	A	3–1	Van Nistelrooy (2) 62′, 63′, Solskjær 68′	29,501	1st
11 December 2002	Deportivo La Coruña	H	2–0	Van Nistelrooy (2) 7′, 55′	67,014	1st
19 February 2003	Juventus	H	2–1	Brown 4′, Van Nistelrooy 85′	66,703	1st
25 February 2003	Juventus	A	3–0	Giggs (2) 15′, 41′, Van Nistelrooy 63′	59,111	1st
12 March 2003	Basel	H	1–1	G. Neville 53′	66,870	1st
18 March 2003	Deportivo La Coruña	A	0–2		25,000	1st

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Manchester United	6	4	1	1	11	5	+6	13
Juventus	6	2	1	3	11	11	0	7
Basel	6	2	1	3	5	10	−5	7
Deportivo La Coruña	6	2	1	3	7	8	−1	7

Knockout phase

Date	Round	Opponents	H/A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
8 April 2003	Quarter-final First leg	Real Madrid	A	1–3	Van Nistelrooy 52′	75,000
23 April 2003	Quarter-final Second leg	Real Madrid	H	4–3	Van Nistelrooy 43′, Helguera 52′ (o.g.), Beckham (2) 71′, 85′	66,708

Squad statistics

No.	Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
No.	Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	Fabien Barthez	30	0	2	0	4	0	10	0	46	0
2	DF	Gary Neville	19(7)	0	3	0	5	0	8(2)	1	35(9)	1
3	DF	Phil Neville	19(6)	1	2	1	4	0	10(2)	0	35(8)	2
4	MF	Juan Sebastián Verón	21(4)	2	1	0	4(1)	0	11	4	37(5)	6
5	DF	Laurent Blanc	15(4)	0	1	0	0	0	9	1	25(4)	1
6	DF	Rio Ferdinand	27(1)	0	3	0	4	0	11	0	45(1)	0
7	MF	David Beckham	27(4)	6	3	1	5	1	10(3)	3	45(7)	11
8	MF	Nicky Butt	14(4)	0	0(2)	0	0(1)	0	8	0	22(7)	0
10	FW	Ruud van Nistelrooy	33(1)	25	3	4	4	1	10(1)	14	50(2)	44
11	MF	Ryan Giggs	32(4)	8	3	2	4(1)	0	13(2)	4	52(7)	14
13	GK	Roy Carroll	8(2)	0	1	0	2	0	3	0	14(2)	0
14	DF	David May	0(1)	0	0	0	2	0	0(1)	0	2(2)	0
15	MF	Luke Chadwick	0(1)	0	0	0	1	0	0(3)	0	1(4)	0
16	MF	Roy Keane (c)	19(2)	0	3	0	2	0	6	0	30(2)	0
17	MF	Michael Stewart	0(1)	0	0(1)	0	1	0	0(1)	0	1(3)	0
18	MF	Paul Scholes	31(2)	14	2(1)	1	4(2)	3	9(1)	2	46(6)	20
19	GK	Ricardo	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	3(1)	0	3(2)	0
20	FW	Ole Gunnar Solskjær	29(8)	9	1(1)	1	1(3)	1	9(5)	4	40(17)	15
21	FW	Diego Forlán	7(18)	6	0(2)	0	3(2)	2	5(8)	1	15(30)	9
22	DF	John O’Shea	26(6)	0	1	0	3	0	12(4)	0	42(10)	0
24	DF	Wes Brown	22	0	1(1)	0	5	0	6	1	34(1)	1
25	MF	Quinton Fortune	5(4)	0	0	0	1	0	3(3)	0	9(7)	0
26	MF	Danny Pugh	0(1)	0	0	0	1	0	1(2)	0	2(3)	0
27	DF	Mikaël Silvestre	34	1	2	0	5	0	13	0	54	1
31	MF	Darren Fletcher	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0
34	DF	Lee Roche	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1(1)	0
37	FW	Danny Webber	0	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0	0(1)	0
38	DF	Mark Lynch	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
40	FW	Daniel Nardiello	0	0	0	0	1	0	0(1)	0	1(1)	0
42	MF	Kieran Richardson	0(2)	0	1	0	0(1)	1	2(3)	0	3(6)	1
43	FW	Mads Timm	0	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0	0(1)	0