Derby County vs Manchester United was all about Wayne Rooney.Rooney played more than 550 times over 13 seasons at Old Trafford, becoming the club’s record goalscorer in the meantime.He is a United legend.Now, at the age of 34 and captain of Championship side Derby, Rooney had the opportunity to play against United for probably the last time in his career.While he couldn’t stop his side from losing 3-0 at Pride Park, he did show glimpses of his quality in his ‘quarterback’ role.Throughout the 90 minutes, he was serenaded by the travelling United fans with their ‘White Pele’ song.
And Rooney was so close to ending the night with a goal.
In injury-time, he lined up a 25-yard free-kick. But his terrific effort was tipped over the bar by Sergio Romero.
But the United fans inside the stadium wanted it to go in.
Fan footage has emerged and it shows the away fans chanting ‘If Rooney scores, we’re on the pitch’ as he got ready to take his free-kick.
And when Romero tipped it over, there were ‘Ooooooh’s’ from the travelling supporters. They sounded really disappointed.
Then more chants of ‘Rooney, Rooney’ broke out.
Brilliant.
“Sergio was not in a kind mood,” Rooney said after the final whistle.
“He could have let that one in. It would have been nice it wasn’t to be.”
Romero denied us another iconic Rooney moment. We'd love to have seen how the United fans really would have reacted if he'd scored that free-kick.
Imagine if they invaded the pitch...