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Michael Carrick was briefly acquainted with his old manager at Anfield when, whilst conducting an interview on the touchline, Sir Alex Ferguson brushed past the Manchester United midfielder to briefly put him off his stride.

The duo shared a brief chuckle but there was nothing to laugh about between them nearly five years ago.

Next Tuesday marks five years since United beat Louis van Gaal's Bayern Munich 3-2 in the Champions League quarter-final second leg, only to be eliminated on the away goals rule. Rafael da Silva's impetuous red card enabled Bayern to seize the initiative in a game United led 3-0, however Carrick was outmuscled by the cumbersome Ivica Olic for Bayern's first and late to close down Arjen Robben's spectacular volley.

Ferguson, as he had proved before, could be a vindictive manager and Carrick was dropped for the weekend's costly draw at Blackburn. He made just two further substitute appearances that season.

That 'defeat' to Bayern almost cost Carrick his United career. One of United's most agonising European eliminations, they would have faced Lyon in the semi-finals and fancied their chances of beating Jose Mourinho's Internazionale in the Bernabeu final.

Fabien Barthez never played for United again after he was culpable for four of Real Madrid's six goals during that bountiful 2003 quarter-final. Ruud van Nistelrooy was on borrowed time after an impotent display at San Siro in 2005 and Gabriel Heinze's showing on the same turf in 2007 convinced Ferguson he should be discarded.

Although he daren't admit it, Ferguson was prepared to sell Carrick after the Bayern fiasco.

Carrick did not start a Premier League game the next season until October, partly due to injury, and also Ferguson's preference for the Paul Scholes-Darren Fletcher axis.

"It's obviously frustrating not playing football," Carrick said understatedly at the time.







Fletcher's illness and Ferguson's midfield blind spot reprieved Carrick. He was fortunate to earn a new contract in the spring of 2011, an announcement greeted damningly by RedIssue.

The fanzine's front cover showed Carrick signing the paperwork with the chief executive David Gill under the headline: 'Capable Hands' Signs Incapable Feet', with a speech bubble emerging from the duo that read: "I can't believe I'm still getting away with this."

Carrick flourished in a midfield partnership with Ryan Giggs that was adequate enough to regain the Premier League but left dizzy by Barcelona's 'passing carousel' in the Champions League final.

Ferguson hammered the final nail in Dimitar Berbatov's coffin after he choked in the 2011 FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City but whereas Berbatov merely stirred, Carrick resurrected when supporters were lining up with hammers.

Tom Cleverley briefly sidelined him at the start of United's ebullient 2011-12 campaign, when they scored 21 goals in their first six games, and Ferguson retained faith in the waning Fletcher and human doughnut Anderson.

Carrick eventually regained his manager's trust after the 6-1 debacle against City and his return to the starting XI against Sunderland coincided with a pragmatic sequence of results. He was a first-teamer again.

Excellent for much of that 2011-12 campaign that ended in darkness at the Stadium of Light, Carrick was United's most consistent performer in the season Robin van Persie scored 30 goals. Like almost every player under David Moyes, his form nosedived, however in a six-year period in which Ferguson refused to sign a single central midfielder, Carrick, purportedly lightweight, helped United punch above their weight.

Carrick will be rightly remembered as one of Ferguson's most important signings and in Van Gaal, he is playing under a coach arguably more appreciative of his skills.

Van Gaal rejected the chance to sign Toni Kroos in the summer and considering he described Carrick's July injury as a 'big blow', it is easy to see why.

Despite Ferguson's effort, Carrick is no pushover.

Does Carrick figure in United fans' 2015-16 dream team? Find out below