Most of them did get bans I think. Made what came after more impressive I guess.
Aye, from Wiki.
In the post-match interviews, Van Nistelrooy was accused by both Vieira and Arsenal's manager, Arsène Wenger, of feigning contact to get Vieira sent off, while United manager Alex Ferguson defended his player and denied he had dived.[20]
As a result of these reactions, six Arsenal players, two Manchester United players and Arsenal Football Club itself were charged with improper conduct by The Football Association.[21] As a club, Arsenal were charged with "failing to ensure the proper behaviour of their players", while their players' charges ranged from one charge of improper conduct for Ashley Cole's "involvement in a confrontation with Cristiano Ronaldo after the final whistle" to Lauren's two counts of violent behaviour for "kicking out at Quinton Fortune following the penalty award and for forcibly pushing Ruud van Nistelrooy in the back following the final whistle", and two counts of improper conduct for "confronting Van Nistelrooy after Patrick Vieira's sending-off, and for confronting Ryan Giggs after the final whistle".[21] Manchester United as a club were not charged, but Ryan Giggs was charged with improper conduct for "his involvement in a confrontation with Lauren after the match had ended" and Cristiano Ronaldo was charged with improper conduct for "confronting Martin Keown at the conclusion of the match". Phil Neville was also warned about his future behaviour.[21]
Arsenal and their players pleaded guilty to the charges against them, but still received a £175,000 fine, the largest ever given to a club by the FA.[6][22] Lauren, Martin Keown, Patrick Vieira and Ray Parlour were all suspended for between one and four matches:[23] Lauren received a four-game ban – half of the potential ban he could have received – and a £40,000 fine; Keown was suspended for three matches and had to pay a £20,000 fine; Vieira and Parlour were given one-game bans and had to pay £20,000 and £10,000 respectively.[6] Jens Lehmann was originally charged but this was later dropped.[6] Ashley Cole was not suspended but was given a £10,000 fine.[6] Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo both pleaded not guilty to their involvement in the incident, but after a five-hour hearing in December 2003, Giggs was handed a £7,500 fine and Ronaldo a £4,000 fine and both were warned about their future conduct.[24]
Arsenal finished the league season without a single defeat and earned the tag of The Invincibles, a tag once given to the 1888–89 Preston North End team, the only previous team to go through a league season undefeated.[25][26] Van Nistelrooy's missed penalty, therefore, was a crucial moment in Arsenal's season.[27] The return fixture between the two sides at Highbury finished as a 1–1 draw and passed without incident.[28] Manchester United finished in third place in the league table behind Chelsea but defeated Millwall in the 2004 FA Cup Final.[29] Their run included a semi-final victory against Arsenal courtesy of a Paul Scholes goal.[30] The following season, after Manchester United had brought Arsenal's unbeaten run to an end after 49 matches,[31] the two clubs were involved in another incident at Old Trafford, variously dubbed the Battle of Old Trafford II,[32] the Battle of the Buffet[33] or simply the Battle of Old Trafford.[34]
