The arrival of Dimitar Berbatov in the summer of 2008 had limited Carlos Tevez's chances of featuring in the Manchester United starting lineup, despite the fact that he had played a key role in the previous season's Premier League and Champions League success.
It meant that the Argentine striker, who was over halfway through a two-year loan stint at Old Trafford, had to predominately settle for outings as a substitute or in League Cup fixtures.
The latter of those two arrived five years ago today in the form of the quarter-finals against a visiting Blackburn Rovers side.
Tevez was lively from the first whistle and went on to break the deadlock in the 36th minute when he headed in from close range. He then turned provider shortly before the break when his pass freed Nani to score.
Blackburn manager and former United midfielder Paul Ince introduced Benni McCarthy into the action shortly after the restart and he was rewarded almost immediately when the South African got the better of Gary Neville, before slotting the ball beyond Ben Foster.
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In United's very next attack, though, Tevez scored his second and United's third. Martin Olsson brought down the centre-forward, who dusted himself down to convert the resultant penalty.
Then, in the 53rd minute, Ryan Giggs and Anderson linked up to set up Tevez to complete his hat-trick with a simple tap-in.
Despite the deficit, the away side rallied and goals from Matt Derbyshire and his strike partner McCarthy reduced the arrears to one with three minutes of stoppage time left to play.
However, there was still time for Tevez to put the outcome beyond any doubt when he sealed United's place in the semi-finals by firing a half-volley from a narrowing angle out of the reach of Paul Robinson.
MAN UNITED: Foster; Rafael, Neville, Evans, O'Shea (Evra 66); Nani, Gibson, Possebon (Scholes 66), Anderson; Giggs (Manucho 71); Tevez
BLACKBURN: Robinson; Olsson, Nelsen, Ooijer, Warnock; Treacy, Kerimoglu (Pedersen 70), Mokoena, Emerton (McCarthy 46); Derbyshire, Roque Santa Cruz (Fowler 76).
Liam Apicella
