2006 Football League Cup Final

2006 Football League Cup Final

Manchester United Wigan Athletic 4 0
Event	2005–06 Football League Cup
Date	26 February 2006
Venue	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Player of the Match	Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)
Referee	Alan Wiley (Staffordshire)
Attendance	66,866
Weather	Mostly cloudy 6 °C (43 °F)
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The 2006 Football League Cup Final also known as the 2006 Carling Cup Final for sponsorship reasons, was played between Manchester United and Wigan Athletic on 26 February 2006. Manchester United won the match comfortably, by four goals to nil. Louis Saha and Cristiano Ronaldo both scored one goal, and Wayne Rooney scored twice. For the trophy presentation, the Manchester United players wore special shirts reading "For You Smudge", referring to Alan Smith, who had broken his left leg during a recent FA Cup match against Liverpool. Wigan goalkeeper Mike Pollitt picked up a hamstring injury after just 14 minutes, cutting short a dream cup final for the journeyman player, who started his career with the Red Devils.

Road to Cardiff

Manchester United Round 3 Manchester United 4–1 Barnet Round 4 Manchester United 3–1 West Bromwich Albion Round 5 Birmingham City 1–3 Manchester United Semi-final (1st leg) Blackburn Rovers 1–1 Manchester United Semi-final (2nd leg) Manchester United 2–1 Blackburn Rovers   (Man Utd won 3–2 on aggregate)

Wigan Round 2 Wigan Athletic 1–0 AFC Bournemouth Round 3 Wigan Athletic 3–0 Watford Round 4 Wigan Athletic 1–0 Newcastle United Round 5 Wigan Athletic 2–0 Bolton Wanderers Semi-final (1st leg) Wigan Athletic 1–0 Arsenal Semi-final (2nd leg) Arsenal 2–1 Wigan Athletic   (2–2 on aggregate. Wigan Athletic won on away goals)

Match details

26 February 2006 15:00	Manchester United	4–0	Wigan Athletic	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 66,866 Referee: Alan Wiley (Staffordshire)
	Rooney  33', 61' Saha  55' Ronaldo  59'	Report

Manchester United

Wigan Athletic

GK 19 Edwin van der Sar RB 2 Gary Neville (c) CB 6 Wes Brown 83' CB 5 Rio Ferdinand LB 27 Mikaël Silvestre 83' RM 7 Cristiano Ronaldo 60' 73' CM 22 John O'Shea CM 11 Ryan Giggs LM 13 Park Ji-sung SS 8 Wayne Rooney CF 9 Louis Saha Substitutes: GK 1 Tim Howard DF 3 Patrice Evra 83' DF 15 Nemanja Vidić 83' MF 23 Kieran Richardson 73' FW 10 Ruud van Nistelrooy Manager: Sir Alex Ferguson

GK 12 Mike Pollitt 14' RB 2 Pascal Chimbonda CB 16 Arjan de Zeeuw (c) 45' CB 6 Stéphane Henchoz 62' LB 26 Leighton Baines RM 21 Jimmy Bullard CM 11 Graham Kavanagh 72' CM 19 Paul Scharner LM 20 Gary Teale CF 7 Henri Camara CF 30 Jason Roberts Substitutes: GK 1 John Filan 14' DF 4 Matt Jackson MF 8 Andreas Johansson MF 23 Reto Ziegler 72' FW 10 Lee McCulloch 62' Manager: Paul Jewell

Match officials Assistant referees: John Holbrook (Worcestershire) Paul Norman (Dorset) Fourth official: Andy Hall (West Midlands) Man of the match Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

Match rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary. Penalty shootout if scores still level. Five named substitutes. Maximum of three substitutions.

Statistics

	United	Wigan
Total shots	14	16
Shots on target	9	7
Ball possession	46%	54%
Corner kicks	1	5
Fouls committed	11	13
Offsides	3	2
Yellow cards	1	1
Red cards	0	0

Source: ESPN

External links

• Match facts at soccerbase.com

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