While the League Cup has assumed a number of guises over the years, Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho's relationship with the unfashionable tournament has been consistent.
The Portuguese's record in the competition is one of the main reasons why attitudes towards it have changed in recent years, with the League Cup now being seen as a pathway to greater things, report the Manchester Evening News .
Before Mourinho arrived on these shores, the likes of Leicester, Blackburn and Middlesbrough ruled the roost in England's lesser competition, but since his 2005 entrance, both the Manchester sides and Chelsea have all lifted the trophy on their way to winning the Premier League.
The competition proved the catalyst for Mourinho's league wins in 2005 and 2015 and was the springboard for United's Europa League triumph last season.
Few could argue that 'three' trophies was a decent return for his first season at Old Trafford, but Mourinho wanted to ram the message down pundits' throats.
As the players lined up to lift the Europa League, for the first time in the club's history, he encouraged them to raise three fingers aloft.
Remarkably, under Mourinho, the Community Shield has become a trophy in its own right for perhaps the first time in its glittering history.
And while he will now feel more at home competing for bigger trophies like the Premier League and Champions League, Mourinho will not immediately discount the Carabao Cup.
Limping out as the holders before the fifth round, like in 2005 and 2015, will not be tolerated this time around against Burton.
Mourinho will pack his bench with experience and will look to kill off this game in normal time to avoid an extra-time headache ahead of Saturday's trip to Southampton.
The game is a chance to hand Michael Carrick, Scott McTominay, Jesse Lingard and Luke Shaw some much-needed minutes, but also give Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford the opportunity to maintain their confident starts.
Talk of prodigy Angel Gomes getting the nod seems a little premature and the only apparent certainty is that Sergio Romero will keep his place as cup 'keeper.
And if Mourinho can win the tournament, again, he will become the competition's most successful manager ahead of Sir Alex Ferguson and Brian Clough.
In three spells in English football, the Portuguese has matched a feat that took Ferguson 24 years and Clough a quarter of a century - winning the League Cup four times.
Mourinho, who is obsessed with seemingly innocuous records like overseeing the most Champions League matches as a manager, will be well aware of that.
The parallels with Clough, in particular, are striking.
Both are two-time European Cup winners, both are incredibly charismatic figures and both have made their names for building teams rather than just accommodating stars.
Clough has proved one of Mourinho's many inspirations and he even took a day-trip to Nottingham during Euro '96 while working at Barcelona.
After witnessing Forest's 30,000-capacity stadium up close, the Portuguese was astounded by Clough's achievements.
Perhaps, it should not be a surprise, then, that Mourinho has adopted some of Clough's mannerisms and signature habits.
The most obvious one is his macho attitude towards injuries; Mourinho generally avoids his players if they are on the treatment table.
With Chelsea skipper John Terry, for example, he would blank him if he even missed a day's training; all the while, Mourinho would be in regular contact with the club's physio to gauge his progress.
Terry's commitment, on the field at least, has never been in question and that cold shoulder pushed him to get back into his manager's plans.
Having surrounded himself with warriors and monsters down through the years, Mourinho demands his squad leave blood on the field in the same way Clough did.
Admittedly, there are a number of differences - Clough never criticised referees - but the Portuguese is arguably the modern heir to Ol' Big Head's throne.
Another Carabao Cup win would cement that.