It appears as though controversy follows Wayne Rooney when we play Villarreal, considering this is the only club our forward has been sent off against during a competitive match. Sarcastically applauding a poor decision by the referee (the one who sent off Beckham in the World Cup!) saw him take an early bath in 2005, before United later went on to fail to get out of the group stages.
There has been a lot of fuss made over Rooney’s dive against Villarreal on Tuesday night, with Sir Alex Ferguson explaining Wayne went down in anticipation of a tackle.
Rooney has today claimed the same thing, whilst focussing on the club’s future in the competition.
“Sometimes you get kicked,” Rooney said. “I thought I was going to get kicked and I went down and tried to ride the challenge. Getting through [to the next stage] was the main thing. It probably wasn’t the most exciting game to watch but we have qualified and we are pleased. We are still unbeaten. We know after winning the competition last year that teams will want to beat us more now but we welcome that.”
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