LONDON Until Sunday, soccer fans had one enduring image of France's World Cup-winning goalkeeper Fabien Barthez -- that of defender Laurent Blanc planting a kiss on his shaved head before every international.

Not anymore. Manchester United's shock 1-0 home defeat by West Ham in the FA Cup will be remembered for the extraordinary way Barthez stood, arm aloft as if hailing a taxi, as Paolo di Canio placed the ball past him for West Ham's winner.

Barthez's Manager Alex Ferguson and West Ham's Harry Redknapp agreed the goalkeeper was trying to fool Di Canio into believing he had been flagged offside.

But the sight of one of the world's greatest goalkeepers making the schoolboy error of not playing to the whistle left Barthez looking ridiculous.

United's fourth round defeat ended their hopes of repeating their 1999 treble when they won the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.

Pitch a Disgrace

It is a measure of United's domestic dominance -- the champions lead the Premier League by 13 points with 14 games to go -- that a narrow home defeat by a fellow Premier League side is regarded as a major shock.

For non-United fans, the defeat was very sweet.

United, who missed last season's FA Cup to play in the World Club Championship, had already booked their hotel rooms in Cardiff where this season's final will be staged while Wembley is demolished.

Ferguson refused to blame Barthez, preferring to attribute United's defeat to, among other things, the awful state of the pitch and the lack of injury time played.

English Rugby League's grand final was played on the Old Trafford surface in October and Ferguson believes that was a game too many.

"The biggest club in the world and they have to play rugby every year and the pitch is a mess after it," he said.

"You'd think they would learn a bloody lesson. It's an absolute disgrace."

United's manager said the fact that West Ham defender Stuart Pearce had to take injured goalkeeper Shaka Hislop's goalkicks throughout the match meant more than the four minutes of stoppage time should have been added on at the end.

(Reuter)