Manchester United face Coventry for the first time in 17 years on Sunday in the FA Cup semi-final.
That League Cup game back in 2007 is probably one United fans would rather forget though.
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Pique was among the Man United starters in that gameCredit: Getty
That’s because the Championship side, who were managed by Iain Dowie at the time, pulled off an unlikely 2-0 victory at Old Trafford.
What is remarkable is that Sir Alex Ferguson’s side featured a future World Cup winner in Gerard Pique and Golden Boy winner Anderson.
Despite the game taking place 17 years ago, there are two players in that squad who are still at the club.
Jonny Evans started the match and Tom Heaton was on the bench, both are at the club now but spent significant time away from Old Trafford.
Thomas Kuszcak started in goal with the defence made up of Danny Simpson, Phil Bardsley, Evans, John O’Shea, and Gerard Pique.
The midfield comprised Anderson, Chris Eagles, Lee Martin, and Nani, while the Chinese striker Dong Fangzhou started up front.
Superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs and Patrice Evra were given the day off and Fergie was made to regret that.
Michael Misfud scored both goals for Coventry in the shock result, with 11,000 fans travelling up to Old Trafford for the memorable victory.
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Evans started in that match and is still at the clubCredit: Getty
Pique, who played just 23 times for Man United, told talkSPORT: “It was a very difficult night, I hope it doesn’t happen again.
“It can happen in FA Cup or League Cup games… you cannot make a mistake and I hope this time United can win.”
At the time, Ferguson said: “The performance was a shock to us all. These are players whose talents we have been trumpeting for a while but I was flabbergasted with the performance.”
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Fangzhuo led the line with many top players restedCredit: AFP
Coventry boss Dowie said: “To come here and score twice against zero does my players a lot of credit. They showed great desire in every position. The keeper made one great save but we limited them to only a few chances really.
“It was a team that Fergie thought was good enough to beat us and to talk about who was not playing would do a disservice to my players.”
Coventry will be hoping to emulate a similar result on Sunday as Mark Robins’ side look to dump out another Premier League side from the FA Cup to book their place in the final.
They knocked out Wolves in the last round and next in their sights will be Manchester United, with commentary of that match live on talkSPORT.
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