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Arsenal and Aston Villa fans seeking tickets for this Saturday's FA Cup Final should have been looking to the skies this morning, with a pair dropping to Earth from space earlier today.
To celebrate "the adventure of the Cup", the Football Association decided to send a couple of tickets to the show-piece at Wembley out of the atmosphere.
At 6am this morning, they lifted off from Wembley, attached to a balloon.
The balloon then exploded at around 7am at a height of 29km with the tickets descending back to Earth.
The launch of the tickets (THE FA / TWITTER) With demand for tickets desperate, Arsenal and Aston Villa fans had been tracking them using GPS. At 7am they were traced over Tonbridge, then at 9.31am the FA reported that the tickets had landed in a village called Broad Oak in Kent.
They have since been claimed, by a 19 year-old Arsenal fan's grandmother.
Show all 12 1 /12Premier League 2014/15 memorable moments Premier League 2014/15 memorable moments Comical tackle of the season Phil Jones’ commitment has never been in question – but he really went the extra mile in May’s Premier League clash against Arsenal. Having slipped with Olivier Giroud on his shoulder, the defender managed to nod a header away – despite lying flat on the ground. Former Gunners defender Martin Keown labelled him as a “comical stuntman” – and it’s hard to disagree on this showing.
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Premier League 2014/15 memorable moments Unluckiest player of the season In the opening match of the season, Ashley Young may have seen Ki Sung-Yeung’s goal and thought it was going to be a bad day – but little did he know, it was about to get a whole lot worse for him. Whilst berating team-mates for their defending, videos appear to show bird excrement falling from the sky and straight into the midfielder’s mouth – something he still denies, of course.
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Premier League 2014/15 memorable moments Best free-kick “It was a boring game and I livened it up. My mates think I’m a legend” – the words of Jordan Dunn, the pitch invader who ran on to take a free-kick in August’s match between West Ham and Spurs. His effort was arguably better than many seen on the pitch that day, but Dunn was subsequently fined £305 for his moment of madness.
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Premier League 2014/15 memorable moments Best worst celebration Charlie Adam’s reaction to scoring one of the goals of the season? A not-so-great robot celebration – which led team-mate Peter Crouch to judge it as “horribly wrong”. Adam had just scored from his own half against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, but many will remember the goal for other reasons.
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Premier League 2014/15 memorable moments Worst attempt at a head-butt An addition to the historic list of on-field battles between Manchester United and Arsenal, Gunners midfielder Jack Wilshere took umbrage with opponent Marouane Fellaini – and appeared to head-butt the Belgian. Wilshere’s nine inch height disadvantage meant that his strike failed to meet its target, however, probably helping him to avoid an FA ban.
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Premier League 2014/15 memorable moments Strangest complaint Match officials will carry out a number of checks before every match – ensuring twenty-two are on the field of play, checking there are no holes in the nets and so on – but in October, before Leicester’s match at Swansea, the away team’s goalkeepers became convinced that the crossbar was too high and complained to the officials. Checks were made – and the goals were found to be the correct height.
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Premier League 2014/15 memorable moments Biggest loser at mind games After West Ham’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United in February, Hammers chief Sam Allardyce accused his opponents of purely playing long-ball football – much to the Dutchman’s anger. Instead of brushing the comments off, Van Gaal produced a document to suggest it was actually Allardyce’s men who lumped the ball forward more often. Big Sam’s efforts to get under the skin of his counterpart had worked.
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Premier League 2014/15 memorable moments The Alan Pardew award for bonkers behaviour from a manager In February, the pressure was starting to mount on Leicester boss Nigel Pearson – and things threatened to come to a head during his side’s 1-0 home defeat to Crystal Palace. Eagles midfielder James McArthur had collided with the hot-headed manager on the touchline, and instead of helping him to his feet, Pearson appeared to strangle the 27-year-old. He subsequently escaped punishment by the FA.
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Premier League 2014/15 memorable moments Most topical celebration On the day of Manchester United’s victory over Spurs in March, a video emerged showing the United Wayne Rooney skipper being knocked to the ground in a boxing match in his own home by ex-team-mate Phil Bardsley. He went on to celebrate his goal in the 3-0 win with a celebration imitating his own knock-out.
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Premier League 2014/15 memorable moments Weirdest press conference/best name calling Nigel Pearson has always been a manager who will back his players – even if it means ostracising himself from the media. A journalist had asked Pearson to explain his comments that his side had faced a high level of criticism and negativity, and instead of giving a reasoned answer, Pearson labelled the reporter as an “ostrich” and said his “head must be in the sand”.
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Premier League 2014/15 memorable moments The delusional boaster award Step aside Jose Mourinho – you’re not the best coach in the Premier League, according to Newcastle boss John Carver. His suggestion for the mantle? Himself. Speaking recently, on the back of eight straight defeats, Toon boss Carver made the bold statement – perhaps to deflect attention onto himself and away from his struggling squad.
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Premier League 2014/15 memorable moments Playground moment Cesc Fabregas has always been able to pick a pass – and showed this more than ever in May’s away trip to West Brom. During a break in play, the Spaniard’s 20-yard punt hit opponent Chris Brunt on the head whilst referee Mike Jones was dealing with another incident. Jones saw Fabregas’ strike and showed him a straight red card – but his three-match ban has since been reduced to just one, after Chelsea successfully argued the initial punishment was excessive.
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As well as the pair of tickets, the winners gets to be pitch-side pre-match and have their photo taken of the trophy.
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