Manchester United Face Leeds in the FA Cup for First Time Since 2004

After a six year absence, one of the best rivalries in English football returns on January 3 as Manchester United will host rival Leeds United at Old Trafford in the third round of the FA Cup.

During the history of this matchup, Leeds and Man United barely met at all in the first 40 years of their rivalry after the rivalry started in 1920 due to relegation and demotion, but starting in the 1960s, the rivalry became one of the strongest rivalries in English football.

This became most evident in the 1964-1965 season, in which Leeds and Man United met in the FA Cup semifinal, during which Jack Charlton and Denis Law got into a brawl during the middle of the match in what turned out to be a scoreless draw and in the replay, Leeds won 1-0 to advance onto the FA Cup final.

After that season, Leeds went onto to win the league twice in the next decade and were runners-up twice, while Man United won the league once, but also won the European Cup.

In the seasons afterwards, Leeds got demoted in 1982, but got promoted in 1990 and won the league again in 1992, but sold a young Eric Cantona to Man United, who became the cornerstone of United's success throughout the 1990s.

However at the turn of the century, Leeds were able to get into the Champions League semifinal (where they lost to Valencia 3-0 on aggregate) but due to some terrible financial decisions from that Champions League run, Leeds got demoted in 2004 and lost young stars Alan Smith and Rio Ferdinand to Man United.

But now, Leeds will travel to Old Trafford since 2004 to take on Man United, and the tide is against Leeds here, as they are currently 43 places behind Man United overall in English football.

Going into this match, Leeds, who are currently first in League One by eight points over Charlton Athletic, and have not lost once in the last 15 matches.

In the match, Leeds will be without Leigh Bromby due to suspension, and Max Gradel due to his loan deal preventing Gradel from playing in the match.

For Man United, they will get Gary Neville and Paul Scholes back for this match, and according to manager Sir Alex Ferguson, this will be a great match, which is what we should expect as these rivals get ready to battle each other for the first time in six years.