Arsenal FC could not stop Manchester United from booking their place in the Final in Rome and possibly becomming the 1st club to retain the trophy in the UEFA Champions League era after they were subjected to a crushing 3-1 defeat.

Arsenals hopes effectively vanished inside the opening eleven minutes after first Ji-Sung Park, capatilising on a slip by Kieran Gibbs in the box, and then Christiano Ronaldo, catching Manuel Almunia out with a SCREAMER of a free-kick struck from miles out for United.

Trailing 3-0 on aggregate and totally demoralised there was simply no way back for the Gunners who did not bring their current form to the party. The only downside for Sir Alex Furguson’s team was the dismissal of Darren Fletcher, who now finds himself missing out on the final, for bringing Cesc Fabregas down to concede the penalty which would be converted by Robin van Persie, Arsenal’s late and feable reply.

The Emirates was awash with swirling red and white flags before kick-off but blue proved the colour here, Man U winning in the same all-blue they wore when they lifted the European crown for the 1st time at Wembley in 1968. A short distance across north London they left their fans dreaming of a fourth triumph on 27 May after shattering Arsenal’s 5 year unbeaten home record in Europe. They did so in style although there is no doubt that Arsenal presented the game on a silver platter, hitting the self-destruct button by gift wrapping Uniteds 1st goal. So ended Arsenal’s 514 minutes without conceding in the competition and with it the dreams of Rome.

In the end the Gunners were nowhere, completely bossed by an unrelenting United side who controlled the game from the kick off. Arsenal did not turn up for the game and United have now got one hand on the trophy.