Arsenal end trophy drought, Barca and Man Utd trophyless

Arsenal ended their nine-year wait for a major honour when they beat Hull City 3-2 after extra time in a pulsating FA Cup final on Saturday after a dreadful start when they conceded twice in the opening eight minutes.

They recovered with a first half free-kick from Santi Cazorla, a second half equaliser from Laurent Koscileny and a brilliantly taken extra-time winner from Aaron Ramsey who scored with the outside of his right foot.

After the final whistle jubilant manager Arsene Wenger, in charge of Arsenal since 1996, confirmed he was staying at the club to end speculation over his future.

Wenger, showing rare emotion after he was doused with water by his celebrating players, replied "yeah, yeah, yeah" when asked if he was signing a new contract.

Not only was this Arsenal's first major honour since their FA Cup win in 2005, they equalled Manchester United's record of 11 FA Cup wins.

Wenger equalled former United manager Alex Ferguson's record of five FA Cup wins by a manager and Arsenal became the first team since Everton beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-2 in 1966 to win the FA Cup after coming from two goals down.

Frenchman Wenger, beaming with satisfaction, said; "We wanted to make history and win the game. It was the turning point in the life span of this team.

"If we hadn't have come back it would have been terrible. I praised the spirit many times of this team. Congratulations to Hull they played very well. "I always said my future doesn't depend on this match but I wanted to wait to see how it all goes."

He might well have been saying "Non ! Non ! Non!" after the opening eight minutes when Hull, playing in the FA Cup final for the first time in their 110-year history and whose trophy drought has gone on ever since, blasted their way into a 2-0 lead with goals from two of their three centre-backs, James Chester and skipper Curtis Davies.

Chester scored when Arsenal failed to cut our a mis-hit pass from Tom Huddlestone with Chester planting the ball wide of Arsenal keeper Lukasz Fabianski to give his team a shock lead.

Worse was to follow for Arsenal four minutes later when they failed to clear from a set-piece and Davies scored from a narrow angle after Fabianski had palmed the ball on to a post.

MARTINO RESIGNS

Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino resigned on Saturday after just one season in charge having finished second to Atletico Madrid in the La Liga title race and failed to win a major trophy.

The Argentine had been faced with the tough challenge of maintaining Barcelona's incredible recent record of success and while they remained in the title chase until the final game of the season, their performances drew criticism.

Victory in Saturday's final game at home to Atletico, would have drawn them level on 89 points with the Madrid side and seen them finish first with a superior head-to-head record.

In the end, however, they could only manage a 1-1 draw, which left them without major silverware for the first time in six years.

Barca also failed to reach the last four of the Champions League for the first time in seven years after being knocked out by Atletico in the quarter-finals.

"I would like to thank the club for putting their confidence in me and I am sorry that I was unable to deliver," Martino told a news conference.

"The team fought to the end with lots of dignity. I would like to congratulate Atletico they have done very well all through the season."

Martino’s task was made more difficult over the season with injuries to key attacking talents Lionel Messi and Neymar while defensive weaknesses were badly exposed.

Martino had said earlier in the campaign that it would be difficult for him as he was not from the Barcelona or closely-linked Dutch school of football and there were constant debates about his more direct style.

Former player Luis Enrique is the favourite to replace Martino, having resigned as Celta Vigo coach on Friday.

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