Why Sheffield United v Wrexham could be the tie of Carabao Cup first round

There’ll be old scores to settle in the first round of the Carabao Cup after Sheffield United were drawn against Wrexham.

The two sides met in the FA Cup two seasons ago, when it took a late John Egan equaliser to salvage a draw for the Blades at the Racecourse, before another tight match in the replay at Bramall Lane saw United come through, again after two late goals from Billy Sharp and Sander Berge.

The two matches were incident packed and there was no love lost as United players suggested that Wrexham as a club, who are owned by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney and subject of a Disney+ reality series, had been disrespectful throughout.

Sharp was particularly critical afterwards, saying: “I think they’ve been disrespectful with a few things before the game, thinking they were already through. I’m glad we’ve beat them. They’re doing well in their league, we’re doing well in ours, but I wasn’t happy with a few of their players.

“I wasn’t happy with the way they’ve been as a club before the game, eyeing up Spurs [who would take on the winners of the tie]. They’ve not even beat us.”

Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson countered: “I was a bit disappointed with Billy, with some of the things he was shouting down the tunnel. He’s a fantastic player but I thought he was disrespectful after the game. The way their players celebrated was a mark of how tough we made it for them. My message to Billy is: you’re better than that. My players are humble people and they’re a credit to the football club.”

Even in the aftermath when the episode of We Are Wrexham, featuring the cup ties was aired, Reynolds and McElhenney mocked Blades skipper Sharp.

Reynolds said: "It was really interesting. It was psychology 101. It was like 'oh we own you right now'. You're a Championship team, and second place in the Championship, you guys are amazing. And this guy, we just got under his skin. It was so, so wonderful to see that we got under that guy's skin the way we did."

McElhenney added: "We were living rent-free in that motherf*****'s brain."

Wrexham will return to Bramall Lane on the week commencing August 12 for the Carabao Cup first round tie.