Sir Alex Ferguson was at the centre of a few mysteries in his Old Trafford career – but none were crazier than the day he got showered in pizza.

The Battle of the Buffet on October 24, 2004, was the defining incident in a bitter rivalry between Arsenal and Manchester United .

Arsenal arrived expecting to rack up 50 games unbeaten – with some stars even wearing 50 not out T-shirts under their tops.

United striker Wayne Rooney said: “All week Arsenal banged on about how great it would be to make it 50 games unbeaten at Old Trafford.

The Gunners' dream of 50 games unbeaten began to fade on 72 minutes... (
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...when Rooney went down in the box under a Sol Campbell challenge... (
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..and, amid furious protests, referee Mike Riley pointed to the spot (
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"Big mistake. They fired us up. Fifty games unbeaten? No way. Not at our place.”

That set the stage for fireworks — on and off the pitch.

The match had the usual nasty undercurrent, with United triumphing 2-0 through Ruud van Nistelrooy and Rooney.

Van Nistelrooy converted the penalty to put United in front... (
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...and in stoppage time Rooney ensured Arsenal's commemorative T-shirts would stay covered up (
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But the fun really began as the players left the pitch.

They swarmed in the tunnel pushing, shoving, swearing and shouting.

All hell broke loose as a slice of pizza was thrown from the Arsenal dressing room out into the corridor.

Arsene Wenger made his anger clear to whistler Riley at full time... (
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...whereas you couldn't get the smile off Fergie's soon-to-be-pizza-laden face (
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Ashley Cole, then Arsenal’s left-back, recalled: “It went flying over my head and hit Fergie in the mush.

“All eyes turned to see this pizza slip off that puce face and roll down his suit.”

Ferguson later wrote in his biography: “They say it was Cesc Fabregas, but I’ve still no idea who the culprit was.”