It was a single moment played out in the dying embers of last week’s dramatic Manchester Derby at Eastlands that will live long in the memory of United supporters. In trying to grab a face-saving, last gasp equalizer City found themselves caught on the break with even their keeper Joe Hart racing back desperately from a corner.
As Ryan Giggs led the counter-attack towards the half-way line the home goal lay empty, but possibly not fancying an ear bashing of Govan like proportions off his manager if all went awry, Giggs instead passed responsibility to team mate Wayne Rooney. United’s adopted scouser held no such fears.
As the blue side of Eastlands prayed for Rooney to misfire, Hart and Shaun Wright Philips retreated into the penalty area. From just inside the City half United’s number ten shown none of the Welshman’s reluctance as he clipped a delightful chipped shot that flew with a devastating certainty towards the net.
If scored it would arguably be the most famous ever Derby goal, equalling Denis Law’s backheel back in 1974 that helped relegate United into division two. Across the world but most importantly in Moston, Wythenshawe, Openshawe, Failsworth, Longsight, Gorton, Stretford and all points Manchester they held their breath.
Onwards it soared……
Six years ago on 22nd October 2002, amidst crazed scenes of hysteria and emotion at Goodison Park, sixteen year old Wayne Rooney announced his arrival on the Premiership scene in unforgettable manner. A last minute wonder strike hit with such ferocity and precision past Arsenal’s David Seaman that Rooney found himself being hailed as a ‘white Pele’.
A Liverpool kid raised in the badlands of Croxteth, Rooney perfected his technique on uneven back streets, dribbling past imaginary defenders in the shape of lampposts, smashing a ball for endless hours against walls, bouncing it off kerbs and undoubtedly driving annoyed neighbours to despair.
The results being a world class footballer performing miracles for England when most his age were busy spending the weekend chasing skirt, getting drunk and dreading Monday morning. A mesmeric showing at Euro 2004 in Portugal heralded the arrival of Rooney in international football as he tortured the defense of European champions France.
A single-handed battering of Croatia into submission signalled to a watching Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson here was the next Old Trafford superstar. With Rooney himself not averse to plying his remarkable talent on a much grander stage a deal was struck and he was Manchester bound.
Here was a player born to strut his stuff in the self-styled ‘Theatre of dreams’. A street wise footballer who bordered the right side of arrogant. Wonderful vision, intelligent, fearless and an unerring ability to score all manner of goals.
The price paid a kings ransom but worth every penny to follow in the exalted footsteps of Eric Cantona, David Beckham and Roy Keane. A natural heir to enrapture Manchester United’s fanatical worldwide support. His name ensconced onto countless shirts from Moston to Mozambique. Delighting the money men and fans alike.
So it was with no love lost Wayne Rooney bade a bitter farewell to his boyhood love of toffee blue, and the next astonishing chapter in this still precocious story saw him fire a magnificent hat trick against Fenerbache on his champions League debut in Mancunian red. Left foot then right and a blinding free kick? Not even in Roy of the Rovers would schoolboys have stood for such unbelievable nonsense.
No one can say whatever their colours that Rooney has underachieved during his time at Manchester United, but there are those who claim he has yet to reach the potential shown during his teenage swagger. Ferguson has undoubtedly taken advantage of the player’s totally unselfish attitude in being willing to sacrifice himself for the greater team cause.
Many prestigious European evenings and important Premiership encounters have proved openly frustrating for Wayne Rooney, running himself into oblivion from wide, giving away easy possession. Though still chasing and harrying back to help his defenders when under pressure. Each time he would finish the match earning great praise from the manager but ultimately never showing his true worth.
A fearful temper many times igniting into self destruct mode and also the dreaded Metatarsal curse that has struck him down enough now to cause due concern have undoubtedly hindered such early promise. Critics talk of a ‘crisis’, a ‘failure to push on’. So many knives have been thrust into 22-year-old Rooney in a short career only Julius Caesar could claim to feel his pain.
However a league cup winning medal, two Premiership titles and the small matter of a champions league triumph over Ramon Abramovich’s Chelsea on his own Moscow turf makes nonsense of any who seriously argue Wayne Rooney has not been worth his weight in gold for Manchester United.
Onwards it soared….
Running like his life depended on it Joe Hart made it back onto the goal-line and somehow managed to kick Wayne Rooney’s remarkable long range effort away for a corner. Hart’s face a mixture of relief and utter disbelief at what had just occurred. Rooney had come within inches of arguably the greatest goal in Premiership history.
Not forgetting David Beckham’s superlative half-way line strike against Wimbledon, but this in the dying seconds of a ferocious and emotional Manchester Derby? With tackles flying and tempers frayed, to even have the audacity of attempting something so outrageous? Rooney’s would have to get the nod over Beckham.
But better than Pele against the Czechs back in Mexico 1970? Again the great Brazilian was not under the same match pressure as Rooney with his team sauntering to victory. This was Ardwick, not the Azteca in Mexico City or Guadalajara where Pele performed his footballing miracles. Maybe such landmark moments in football history demand grand locations with romantic settings?
Nevertheless Rooney’s grandiose piece of theatre performed in the shadows of Bradford Road gasworks stands comparison with any previous. Serving as a timely reminder that inside this exceptional player the magic still exists. Who knows what else lurks within for as Rooney continues to exhilarate and frustrate this enjoyable argument will go on?
The early talk of a ‘white Pele’ can now be dismissed as typical overblown tabloid folly? That Wayne Rooney is a great footballer in the modern age is beyond dispute. In this era where the word ‘great’ is used almost indecently to describe any abundance of players, Rooney strides like a colossus over the vast majority of his contemporaries.
