Wayne Rooney plays 53 minutes of his testimonial match as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Jose Mourinho make home bows
He arrived at Old Trafford 12 years ago this month as a pugnacious teenager. When Wayne Rooney walked out at Old Trafford for his testimonial on Wednesday night, he was the man in every sense.
Captain of Manchester United, captain of his country for now, and father of three boys – Kai, Klay and Kit – who joined him on the walk out of the tunnel to an ovation from the United fans and those of his old club Everton, Rooney has come a long way. He is England’s record scorer and soon to be United’s as well.
There have been a few bumps along the way, not least the two times when he came close to leaving Old Trafford before signing a new contract, but few would dispute that he has lived up to expectations since making that £30million move from Merseyside in 2004.
As an occasion to celebrate more than a decade of goals and glory, this was perhaps not the most thrilling of nights. But Rooney the fierce competitor would have welcomed the fact that both United and Everton treated the game as a full-scale warm-up for the new season as they fielded strong line-ups and cancelled each other out in a game of few chances.
Jose Mourinho’s team face champions Leicester in the Community Shield at Wembley on Sunday ahead of the start of the new Premier League season, and it was an opportunity for him to give the senior players who missed the club’s tour of China another run-out following Saturday’s win over Galatasaray in Gothenburg.
It meant home debuts for new signings Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Eric Bailly, with Henrik Mkhitaryan coming on as a second-half substitute. Mourinho, too, was making his first appearance in the Old Trafford dugout, having sidestepped the task of coaching an England XI here at Soccer Aid in June after his appointment was confirmed.
The Portuguese coach stood in the technical area for most of the match but, interestingly, kept returning to a seat at ground level alongside his backroom staff, preferring the viewpoint they had at Chelsea to the elevated dugout at Old Trafford.
Everton also used the game as serious preparation for the new season with their new manager Ronald Koeman naming a strong line-up following their involvement in the Dresden Cup last weekend.
John Stones played at the heart of back-three but is likely to become a more permanent fixture in Manchester if City can strike a compromise deal with Everton for the England defender. Koeman could lose another player for the start of the season if a second-half injury to substitute Muhamed Besic is as bad as it first appeared.
Rooney was given a rousing welcome by the crowd of 58,597 who were aware that all the proceeds are going to children’s charities. It was a good turnout considering the game was being shown live on BT Sport and was also the first match between two Premier League clubs to be streamed on Facebook.
He lined up in the No 10 role he will occupy this season behind Ibrahimovic who described the United captain as the ‘perfect partner’ before kick-off. They scored three of United’s five goals against Galatasaray, and Rooney duly supplied the passes that gave the Swede his only two openings here.
The first was fired straight at Maarten Stekelenburg from a tight angle, and easily parried by Everton’s new goalkeeper. The second, after Ibrahimovic brought down Rooney’s cross and slipped past Stones, was again too close to Stekelenburg who came out to block.
Luke Shaw also went close with a fierce attempt from the edge of the box which took a slight deflection off Stones as it hurtled just wide of the post, and the lack of chances underlined the intent of both teams to treat this as a serious warm-up for the new season rather than an exhibition game.
He arrived at Old Trafford 12 years ago this month as a pugnacious teenager. When Wayne Rooney walked out at Old Trafford for his testimonial on Wednesday night, he was the man in every sense.
Captain of Manchester United, captain of his country for now, and father of three boys – Kai, Klay and Kit – who joined him on the walk out of the tunnel to an ovation from the United fans and those of his old club Everton, Rooney has come a long way. He is England’s record scorer and soon to be United’s as well.
There have been a few bumps along the way, not least the two times when he came close to leaving Old Trafford before signing a new contract, but few would dispute that he has lived up to expectations since making that £30million move from Merseyside in 2004.
As an occasion to celebrate more than a decade of goals and glory, this was perhaps not the most thrilling of nights. But Rooney the fierce competitor would have welcomed the fact that both United and Everton treated the game as a full-scale warm-up for the new season as they fielded strong line-ups and cancelled each other out in a game of few chances.
Jose Mourinho’s team face champions Leicester in the Community Shield at Wembley on Sunday ahead of the start of the new Premier League season, and it was an opportunity for him to give the senior players who missed the club’s tour of China another run-out following Saturday’s win over Galatasaray in Gothenburg.
It meant home debuts for new signings Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Eric Bailly, with Henrik Mkhitaryan coming on as a second-half substitute. Mourinho, too, was making his first appearance in the Old Trafford dugout, having sidestepped the task of coaching an England XI here at Soccer Aid in June after his appointment was confirmed.
The Portuguese coach stood in the technical area for most of the match but, interestingly, kept returning to a seat at ground level alongside his backroom staff, preferring the viewpoint they had at Chelsea to the elevated dugout at Old Trafford.
Everton also used the game as serious preparation for the new season with their new manager Ronald Koeman naming a strong line-up following their involvement in the Dresden Cup last weekend.
John Stones played at the heart of back-three but is likely to become a more permanent fixture in Manchester if City can strike a compromise deal with Everton for the England defender. Koeman could lose another player for the start of the season if a second-half injury to substitute Muhamed Besic is as bad as it first appeared.
Rooney was given a rousing welcome by the crowd of 58,597 who were aware that all the proceeds are going to children’s charities. It was a good turnout considering the game was being shown live on BT Sport and was also the first match between two Premier League clubs to be streamed on Facebook.
He lined up in the No 10 role he will occupy this season behind Ibrahimovic who described the United captain as the ‘perfect partner’ before kick-off. They scored three of United’s five goals against Galatasaray, and Rooney duly supplied the passes that gave the Swede his only two openings here.
The first was fired straight at Maarten Stekelenburg from a tight angle, and easily parried by Everton’s new goalkeeper. The second, after Ibrahimovic brought down Rooney’s cross and slipped past Stones, was again too close to Stekelenburg who came out to block.
Luke Shaw also went close with a fierce attempt from the edge of the box which took a slight deflection off Stones as it hurtled just wide of the post, and the lack of chances underlined the intent of both teams to treat this as a serious warm-up for the new season rather than an exhibition game.
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