The 2003–04 season was Manchester United‘s 12th season in thePremier League, and their 29th consecutive season in the top division of English football.

United won a record eleventh FA Cup with a 3–0 win over Millwall at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, but surrendered the Premier Leaguetitle to unbeaten champions Arsenal, with a second half dip in league form coinciding with Rio Ferdinand starting an eight-month ban from football due to a missed drugs test and restricting United to a third place finish.

New to the United side were Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo, Brazilian World Cup-winning midifelder Kléberson, American goalkeeper Tim Howard, Cameroonian midfielder Eric Djemba-Djemba and French striker David Bellion.

United’s European Cup and League Cup dreams ended in the last 16, with the European exit being particularly painful as a last minute goal by eventual champions Porto put them out of the competition and denied them an eighth successive European Cup quarter-final.

Pre-season and friendlies

Date	Opponents	H/A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
22 July 2003	Celtic	N	4–0	Van Nistelrooy 7′, Giggs 27′, Solskjær 39′, Bellion 72′	66,722
27 July 2003	Club América	N	3–1	Van Nistelrooy 46′, Forlán (2) 48′, 80′	57,365
31 July 2003	Juventus	N	4–1	Giggs 24′, Scholes 57′, Van Nistelrooy 60′, Solskjær 79′	79,000
3 August 2003	Barcelona	N	3–1	Forlán (2) 25′, 36′, Van Nistelrooy 85′	68,396
7 August 2003	Sporting CP	A	1–3	Hugo 88′ (o.g.)	55,000
13 August 2003	Stoke City	A	1–3	Forlán 68′

FA Community Shield

Date	Opponents	H/A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
10 August 2003	Arsenal	N	1–1 (4–3p)	Silvestre 15′	59,293

FA Premier League

Date	Opponents	H/A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance	League position
16 August 2003	Bolton Wanderers	H	4–0	Giggs (2) 35′, 74′, Scholes 77′, Van Nistelrooy 87′	67,647	2nd
23 August 2003	Newcastle United	A	2–1	Van Nistelrooy 51′, Scholes 59′	52,165	3rd
27 August 2003	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1–0	O’Shea 10′	67,648	2nd
31 August 2003	Southampton	A	0–1		32,066	2nd
13 September 2003	Charlton Athletic	A	2–0	Van Nistelrooy (2) 62′, 82′	26,078	2nd
21 September 2003	Arsenal	H	0–0		67,639	3rd
27 September 2003	Leicester City	A	4–1	Keane 15′, Van Nistelrooy (3) 16′, 45′, 52′	32,044	3rd
4 October 2003	Birmingham City	H	3–0	Van Nistelrooy 36′ (pen.), Scholes 57′,Giggs 82′	67,633	2nd
18 October 2003	Leeds United	A	1–0	Keane 81′	40,153	2nd
25 October 2003	Fulham	H	1–3	Forlán 45′	67,727	3rd
1 November 2003	Portsmouth	H	3–0	Forlán 37′, Ronaldo 80′, Keane 82′	67,639	3rd
9 November 2003	Liverpool	A	2–1	Giggs (2) 58′, 70′	44,159	3rd
22 November 2003	Blackburn Rovers	H	2–1	Van Nistelrooy 24′, Kléberson 38′	67,748	3rd
30 November 2003	Chelsea	A	0–1		41,932	3rd
6 December 2003	Aston Villa	H	4–0	Van Nistelrooy (2) 16′, 45′, Forlán (2) 90′, 90′	67,621	3rd
13 December 2003	Manchester City	H	3–1	Scholes (2) 7′, 73′, Van Nistelrooy 34′	67,645	2nd
21 December 2003	Tottenham Hotspur	A	2–1	O’Shea 15′, Van Nistelrooy 26′	35,910	1st
26 December 2003	Everton	H	3–2	Butt 9′, Kléberson 44′, Bellion 68′	67,642	1st
28 December 2003	Middlesbrough	A	1–0	Fortune 14′	34,738	1st
7 January 2004	Bolton Wanderers	A	2–1	Scholes 24′, Van Nistelrooy 39′	27,668	1st
11 January 2004	Newcastle United	H	0–0		67,622	1st
17 January 2004	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0–1		29,396	2nd
31 January 2004	Southampton	H	3–2	Saha 18′, Scholes 37′, Van Nistelrooy 61′	67,758	2nd
7 February 2004	Everton	A	4–3	Saha (2) 9′, 29′, Van Nistelrooy (2) 24′, 89′	40,190	2nd
11 February 2004	Middlesbrough	H	2–3	Van Nistelrooy 45′, Giggs 63′	67,346	2nd
21 February 2004	Leeds United	H	1–1	Scholes 64′	67,744	2nd
28 February 2004	Fulham	A	1–1	Saha 14′	18,306	3rd
14 March 2004	Manchester City	A	1–4	Scholes 35′	47,284	3rd
20 March 2004	Tottenham Hotspur	H	3–0	Giggs 30′, Ronaldo 89′, Bellion 90′	67,634	3rd
28 March 2004	Arsenal	A	1–1	Saha 86′	38,184	3rd
10 April 2004	Birmingham City	A	2–1	Ronaldo 60′, Saha 78′	29,548	3rd
13 April 2004	Leicester City	H	1–0	G. Neville 56′	67,749	3rd
17 April 2004	Portsmouth	A	0–1		20,140	3rd
20 April 2004	Charlton Athletic	H	2–0	Saha 28′, G. Neville 65′	67,477	3rd
24 April 2004	Liverpool	H	0–1		67,647	3rd
1 May 2004	Blackburn Rovers	A	0–1		29,616	3rd
8 May 2004	Chelsea	H	1–1	Van Nistelrooy 76′	67,609	3rd
15 May 2004	Aston Villa	A	2–0	Ronaldo 4′, Van Nistelrooy 10′	42,573	3rd

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
2	Chelsea	38	24	7	7	67	30	+37	79
3	Manchester United	38	23	6	9	64	35	+29	75
4	Liverpool	38	16	12	10	55	37	+18	60

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

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H/A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
4 January 2004	Round 3	Aston Villa	A	2–1	Scholes (2) 64′, 68′	40,371
25 January 2004	Round 4	Northampton Town	A	3–0	Silvestre 34′, Hargreaves 47′ (o.g.), Forlán 68′	7,356
14 February 2004	Round 5	Manchester City	H	4–2	Scholes 34′, Van Nistelrooy (2) 71′, 80′, Ronaldo74′	67,228
6 March 2004	Round 6	Fulham	H	2–1	Van Nistelrooy (2) 25′, 62′	67,614
3 April 2004	Semi-final	Arsenal	N	1–0	Scholes 32′	39,939
22 May 2004	Final	Millwall	N	3–0	Ronaldo 44′, Van Nistelrooy (2) 65′ (pen.), 81′	71,350

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H/A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
28 October 2003	Round 3	Leeds United	A	3–2 (<href=”#Association_football” title=”Overtime (sports)” >a.e.t.)	Bellion 78′, Forlán 108′, Djemba-Djemba117′	37,546
3 December 2003	Round 4	West Bromwich Albion	A	0–2		25,282

UEFA Champions League

Group stage

Date	Opponents	H/A	ResultF–A	Scorers	Attendance	Group position
16 September 2003	Panathinaikos	H	5–0	Silvestre 13′, Fortune 15′, Solskjær 33′, Butt 40′,Djemba-Djemba 83′	66,520	1st
1 October 2003	Stuttgart	A	1–2	Van Nistelrooy 67′ (pen.)	50,348	2nd
22 October 2003	Rangers	A	1–0	P. Neville 5′	48,730	1st
4 November 2003	Rangers	H	3–0	Forlán 6′, Van Nistelrooy (2) 43′, 60′	66,707	1st
26 November 2003	Panathinaikos	A	1–0	Forlán 85′	6,890	1st
9 December 2003	Stuttgart	H	2–0	Van Nistelrooy 45′, Giggs 58′	67,141	1st

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Manchester United	6	5	0	1	13	2	+11	15
Stuttgart	6	4	0	2	9	6	+3	12
Panathinaikos	6	1	1	4	5	13	−8	4
Rangers	6	1	1	4	4	10	−6	4

Knockout phase

Date	Round	Opponents	H/A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
25 February 2004	First knockout round First leg	Porto	A	1–2	Fortune 14′	49,977
9 March 2004	First knockout round Second leg	Porto	H	1–1	Scholes 32′	67,029

Squad statistics

No.	Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Other		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	Fabien Barthez	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	DF	Gary Neville	30	2	4	0	1	0	7	0	0	0	42	2
3	DF	Phil Neville	29(2)	0	2(1)	0	1	0	7	1	1	0	40(3)	1
5	DF	Rio Ferdinand	20	0	0	0	0	0	6	0	1	0	27	0
6	DF	Wes Brown	15(2)	0	5(1)	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	22(3)	0
7	MF	Cristiano Ronaldo	15(14)	4	5	2	1	0	3(2)	0	0	0	24(16)	6
8	MF	Nicky Butt	12(9)	1	3(2)	0	2	0	4(1)	1	1	0	22(12)	2
9	FW	Louis Saha	9(3)	7	0	0	0	0	1(1)	0	0	0	10(4)	7
10	FW	Ruud van Nistelrooy	31(1)	20	3(1)	6	0	0	7	4	1	0	42(2)	30
11	MF	Ryan Giggs	29(4)	7	5	0	0	0	8	1	1	0	43(4)	8
12	FW	David Bellion	4(10)	2	1(1)	0	2	1	0(4)	0	0	0	7(15)	3
13	GK	Roy Carroll	6	0	2(1)	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	11(1)	0
14	GK	Tim Howard	32	0	4	0	0	0	7	0	1	0	44	0
15	MF	Kléberson	10(2)	2	1	0	1	0	1(1)	0	0	0	13(3)	2
16	MF	Roy Keane (c)	25(3)	3	4(1)	0	0	0	4	0	1	0	34(4)	3
17	GK	Ricardo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
18	MF	Paul Scholes	24(4)	9	6	4	0	0	5	1	1	0	36(4)	14
19	MF	Eric Djemba-Djemba	10(5)	0	0(1)	0	1	1	1(3)	1	0(1)	0	12(10)	2
20	FW	Ole Gunnar Solskjær	7(6)	0	1(2)	0	0	0	1(1)	1	1	0	10(9)	1
21	FW	Diego Forlán	10(14)	4	2	1	1	1	2(2)	2	0(1)	0	15(17)	8
22	DF	John O’Shea	32(1)	2	6	0	2	0	6(1)	0	0(1)	0	46(3)	2
23	MF	Kieran Richardson	0	0	0(1)	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2(1)	0
24	MF	Darren Fletcher	17(5)	0	4(1)	0	2	0	3(3)	0	0	0	26(9)	0
25	MF	Quinton Fortune	18(5)	1	3	0	1	0	6(1)	2	1	0	29(6)	3
26	MF	Danny Pugh	0	0	0(1)	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1(1)	0
27	DF	Mikaël Silvestre	33(1)	0	5	1	0	0	6	1	1	1	45(1)	3
32	FW	Eddie Johnson	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0
33	MF	Chris Eagles	0	0	0	0	0(2)	0	0	0	0	0	0(2)	0
34	DF	Phil Bardsley	0	0	0(1)	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1(1)	0
36	FW	Daniel Nardiello	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0
39	DF	Paul Tierney	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0