# 2006 Football League Cup final

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) | (Man Utd won 3–2 on aggregate) | (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) | (2–2 on aggregate. Wigan Athletic won on away goals) | (2–2 on aggregate. Wigan Athletic won on away goals) |

## Match details

| 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 shoot-out if scores still level Five named substitutes Maximum of three substitutions |

### Statistics

| Statistic | 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 |