Rooney’s overhead-kick v Man City remembered

AXEL TUANZEBE

“I’ll never forget Wayne’s overhead-kick. Ever. It stands out for me by a mile. I wasn’t at the game, but I was definitely watching at home. Nani’s cross took a slight deflection, Rooney opened his body and just went ‘bang’. It was just instinct, you know. He adapted to it [the deflection]. A lot of players would just let the ball slide and go to the next man, but he thought, ‘no, I’ll challenge it.’ The next moment, the keeper’s stood still. Ball’s in the top corner. I think he had so much adrenaline in him he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know what celebration to have because he was just so pumped. Being that pumped… there’s no better feeling. It was just how big the game was, too. City had started to become a better team, and they were really challenging us. To then just settle things again with that moment, it was just massive.”

ANTHONY MARTIAL

“I think it would have to be Rooney against City. For a start, it was in a derby game, which means it was a huge game with a lot at stake. So, to score such an exceptional goal at that point, which basically guaranteed the victory, honestly, for me it was just incredible. It wasn’t very easy at all to score that goal and, honestly speaking, it was just a magnificent finish, absolutely magnificent, and to top it all it was at Old Trafford. So yes, for me it was just the perfect goal. I’ve scored overhead-kicks in training, but nothing like that in a game. It would be amazing to score that kind of goal in a huge match like Wayne did!”