Wayne Rooney may have lost a step or two over the past couple years but there are times where we see a glimpse of the superstar he once was.
This was all too apparent as Rooney came on as a sub and broke Sir Bobby Charlton’s Manchester United scoring record with a stunning free kick that gave United a 1-1 draw away at Stoke.
With Sir Bobby in attendance, Rooney scored his 250th total goal as a Manchester United player. Separated by league, Rooney has 180 Premier League, 39 European, 22 FA Cup, 5 league and 4 “other” goals in his Manchester United career. Rooney also passed Charlton for the English National Team scoring record in 2015.
As for the game itself, it was a classic contest of a superior team with the majority of possession and majority of chances but couldn’t convert all game. In fact, Stoke didn’t even score their goal, it was a Juan Mata own goal.
This also didn’t mean Stoke held back and park the bus like they used to do in the Tony Pulis days. Stoke only had the ball 35% of the time but they pushed up and pressed as high as they could.
Jesse Lingard hit the crossbar just before Rooney’s goal so United was so incredibly close all game that it would have been cruel to leave with a loss. Maybe it’s a stretch to argue that Manchester United deserved to win but there is an argument there.
Once Rooney scored, it was all but over and United escaped with a draw, clearly not making the Stoke fans happy. Desperate to keep up with Chelsea and the other teams battling for top four, a draw isn’t ideal but it’s not a serious blow for them for their top four hopes. And Rooney will no longer have to field questions about when he’ll break Sir Bobby Charlton’s record.
