Although
Wayne Rooney is unavailable for
Saturday's FA Cup semi-final nobody will ever forget the indelible
mark he made on the most recent Manchester derby with his
stunning overhead
kick.
It was a moment of sheer genius from our No.10 and one that was
a subject of debate when
Inside
United caught up with the man
himself and team-mates Michael
Carrick and
Wes Brown...
Can you talk us through your goal Wayne…
WR: It came off my shin didn’t it?! [Laughs]
MC: That shin-pad deserves a lot of credit!
WR: I just remember Nani’s cross taking a
deflection and the ball coming over and just hitting it. You’re
always working on your technique, but goals like that are just
instinctive. When I was in the air, I remember Berba shouting
towards me as if to say ‘what are you doing?!’ Then I turned round
and it was in the top corner.
MC: He was just gutted because you’d taken Goal of
the Season off him! [All laugh]
How many times have you watched it?
WR: [Smiles] A few! It’s amazing the amount of the people
who have come up and asked me to sign pictures of it since. To
score a goal like that in a Manchester derby was a great feeling
and it’s definitely one of the biggest buzzes I’ve felt after a
goal.
WB: It’s one of the biggest buzzes I’ve felt after
a goal and I wasn’t even playing!
Where does it rank in terms of goals you’ve
scored?
WR: It’s the best I’ve scored in a game but if you ask the
lads they’ll tell you I score goals like that every day in
training. So it was nice to do it in a game this time!
[All laugh]
WB: No chance.
MC: I’ve been here nearly five years and I’ve
never seen him score a goal like that in training!
WB: Don’t forget about that goal against Newcastle
Wazza [volley in 2004/05]…
MC: The City goal was more important though.
WB: Yeah it was but I wanted to mention the
Newcastle goal so I got a mention because I scored in that game
too!
The celebration was Cantona-esque…
WR: Rio asked me to do it before the game. I don’t know
why I remembered, but as I was running away to celebrate it came
into my head to do it.
What about you guys, what was your view of it? Michael
you were just about to come on and Wes you were on the bench…
MC: I was close to doing a Mourinho-style celebration down
the touchline but I didn’t have my suit on! Me and Michael Owen
were standing pitchside and I think MO ran all the way down to you
didn’t he?
WR: Yeah he did.
MC: I didn’t really know what to do or where to
run, I just went mad where I was stood like every other United fan
inside the ground. The emotion of that moment was unbelievable. I
had to remember to calm myself down though because I knew I’d be
coming on pretty much straight away.
WB: I completely lost the plot in the dug-out. I
was jumping on Chicha and then I started grabbing Strudders [Tony
Strudwick]! For that two or three seconds after you’re just lost in
the moment.
MC: Yeah I think everything comes to you in that
one instant - the importance of the game, the goal you’ve just
witnessed and the fact it’s a derby.
WR: I remember waving up to the box where my
family sit just after the goal because Coleen had brought Kai to
the match, but when I saw Coleen afterwards she said she’d had to
leave about a minute before I scored. I couldn’t believe it!