Ferguson ended "nuts" Van Nistelrooy's Man Utd career at League Cup final

Manchester United icons Sir Alex Ferguson and Ruud van Nistelrooy were on opposite sides in one of the most notorious League Cup final bust-ups on this day 16 years ago.

The Red Devils stormed their way to a 4-0 victory over Wigan Athletic to lift the trophy for the second time in their history courtesy of Wayne Rooney 's double and goals from Louis Saha and Cristiano Ronaldo.

But for one Old Trafford great, the occasion was one to forget as he failed to feature at the Millennium Stadium.

Van Nistelrooy, who scored 21 Premier League goals in the 2005/06 season, was snubbed for a spot in the starting XI or an appearance off the bench against the Latics.

Rooney and Saha formed the strike partnership while the likes of Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic and Kieran Richardson were sent on in the second half to see out the remainder of the match.

Where does Ruud van Nistelrooy rank among Manchester United's greatest strikers of the Premier League era? Have your say in the comments!

Ferguson was more than vindicated by his decision to leave Van Nistelrooy out of the side given Rooney struck in either half and Saha was also on the scoresheet.

Yet the Dutchman was livid to have been passed over and even swore at his manager in what proved to be the beginning of "the end" for his United career.

Ferguson recalled the incident in his book and claimed his assistant, Carlos Queiroz, had to intervene as tensions threatened to boil over on the touchline.

The legendary Scot described the incident as "fractious" and admitted it was "the end" for Van Nistelrooy's time in his squad.

As expected, the wantaway player was offloaded in the summer of 2006 after Real Madrid agreed a fee in the region of £10million.

Rio Ferdinand provided more insight into the source of Van Nistelrooy's fury by confirming Ferguson had promised his then-teammate he would feature in some capacity.

"I think one of the big catalysts for Ruud leaving was the League Cup final," the Englishman told The Beautiful Game podcast in 2020.

"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.

"Ruud went nuts. He was going crazy on the bench, screaming, swearing at the manager. I think the manager was like 'you know what... ooh, now's the time [to sell him].'"

Van Nistelrooy would go on to win two La Liga titles during a goal-laden three seasons with Los Blancos before finally deciding to bury the hatchet with Ferguson during a phone call in 2010, when he was playing for Hamburg.

Recalling his chat with Ferguson, he said: "I rang him and he answered and said: 'OK, fine, go ahead.'

"I said I wanted to apologise for what had happened and he replied, 'Fine, I appreciate that, when we meet again it will be OK.' That was great to know."