'He was screaming and swearing at Sir Alex Ferguson' - the broken promise that sparked Ruud van Nistelrooy's Man United exit

Manchester United will walk out at Wembley on Sunday in the hope of bagging the first major trophy of the Erik ten Hag era.

Ten Hag will have numerous selection dilemmas to contend with before the final against Newcastle United. However, no matter what decisions he makes, the Dutchman will be hoping that none of his players react as his fellow countryman Ruud van Nistelrooy did ahead of the 2006 Carling Cup final against Wigan Athletic.

Before the match, which was held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff due to Wembley's redevelopment, Sir Alex Ferguson had a big choice to make up front. Van Nistelrooy was the man in form in the Premier League having scored 19 goals already that season.

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However, the striker had been rested, for the most part, in the League Cup with Louis Saha favoured and the Frenchman was in superb form. With six goals and four assists in just five matches in the competition, it would be difficult for Ferguson to justify dropping him.

The beginning of the end for Van Nistelrooy was when Ferguson decided that Saha would start alongside Wayne Rooney. Recalling what happened that day, Rio Ferdinand explained on The Beautiful Game podcast: "I think one of the big catalysts for Ruud leaving was the League Cup final.

"He didn't start the game, but he said that the manager promised he was going to come on. But he didn't come on." Ferguson's reasoning for not bringing on Van Nistelrooy could have been two-fold.

Firstly, the Scot could have found it tricky to hook either Rooney or Saha during the game. United's duo directly contributed to three goals between them as Wigan were put to the sword.

But as it became clear that he would not be