There are majestic volleys, there are sweetly-struck volleys, there are angular volleys and then there was Wayne Rooney’s thunderous strike on April 24, 2005.
A day after YouTube was founded with the video ‘Me at the Zoo’, a teenager named Wayne Rooney scored one of the Premier League’s most iconic goals at Old Trafford. It was a moment of pure magic - a youngster’s frustration and vigour converted into crackling kinetic energy.
But first a little background:
The Background
The year was 2005. A cocky Portuguese named Jose Mourinho had sauntered into Stamford Bridge. Not only did he have the temerity to slide down Old Trafford after FC Porto scored in injury time and went on the win the Champions League; in his first press conference, in broken English, he also labelled himself the Special One. Bankrolled by the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, he presented a challenge Ferguson and Manchester United hadn’t encountered in years.
While Chelsea and Arsenal had better squads on paper, Manchester United was trying to rebuild theirs with two youngsters named Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Yet, on April 24, they were losing 0-1 to Newcastle United. While Rooney had shown glimpses of potential, there was still no surety that the world’s most expensive teenager would be worth all the millions United had paid Everton.
United was also in a bad space, having scored only one goal in five games, despite the presence of Ruud Van Nistelrooy. During the game, Rooney was also furious, having felt that legendary Newcastle striker Alan Shearer was being given an easy time and was going to be replaced for a rash challenge on James Milner. Brazilian World Cup winner Kleberson (look him up) was warming up to come on when…
The Goal
As Rooney stood arguing with the referee, with United down, Peter Rampage headed a clearance out.
An angry Rooney -- deciding that parliamentary debate wasn’t the best way to deal with his frustrations -- put his foot through the ball and rifled it into the top corner.
It was as if the Gods had intervened and for a brief moment, Rooney’s worthy right leg had the power of Mjolnir.
The ball thundered past Shay Given and, at that moment, United fans across the world knew all would be well. The Knight of Old Trafford had signed another gem and there would be a new era of domination at United.
Years later, Rooney would write: “I had a dead leg as well at the time, and I remember seeing one of our subs warming up and I think I was about to come off.” Or to put in even simpler terms: “It got headed out and I just hit it as hard as I could."
The Aftermath
United would finish the season third, and it would take one more for United to regain the Premier League in the 2006-2007 season. Ruud Van Nistelrooy would depart after a training ground bust-up with Cristiano Ronaldo, and Rooney and Ronald would have their fight a year later at the World Cup 2006.
However, both of them would put differences aside to power Ferguson’s last great team which won the league in 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09. Ronaldo would depart but Rooney would help United win two more titles in 2010-11 and 2012-13. They would also win the Champions League in 2007-08 and lose agonisingly to the tiki-taka Titans of Barcelona in 2009 and 2011.
What if?
Even though Rooney had a great career at Old Trafford and won more than his peers, looking back at the strike makes one wonder – what if? What if Rooney had taken better care of himself? What if he had been less of a team player and more selfish? What if he didn’t curb his natural attacking instincts to help the team?
Perhaps we’d be talking about Wayne Rooney in the same breath as we do about Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi today. Because anyone who watched Rooney in his youth knows, that the kid had the potential to be a true GOAT instead of just the world-class player that he ultimately became.
