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The good came with his seventh goal of the season —
which at least rescued a draw from this match with the Danish
minnows.
The bad came in the form of some wayward shooting. The
ugly saw him kick, stamp and even elbow the opposition.
A stricter ref than Frenchman Laurent Duhamel would
have seen him walk, as the England striker completely lost his
cool.
The worst he got was a talking-to. And if he acts like
this later in the competition, it could have serious consequences
for United as they need him more than any other player.
Why does he do it, when he possesses such talent and
skill?
Has he learnt nothing from the consequences of his
stamp on Ricardo Carvalho in the World Cup quarter-finals two years
ago which cost England dear?
He claims he has matured and that side has gone. Well
not on the evidence of last night. His frustration first spilled
over after Aalborg had plundered an equaliser against the run of
play.
Rooney tangled with Kasper Risgard then stamped on the
visiting player’s chest as he went to ground. Luckily for him the
ref did not get a good view of it! He was at it again three minutes
into the second half when he clearly wasn’t going to reach a
through-ball.
He stretched his right leg out instead to reach Michael
Jakobsen and scraped his studs down the back of his leg.
This is Aalborg and United were already through! It
went on even after he had grabbed an equaliser. In the 71st minute
he left Risgard holding his chin when he shrugged him off with an
elbow.
Whether he meant it or not if you fling your arm back
like that you are asking for trouble.
Having left Risgard behind, Rooney then kicked at
Thomas Augustinussen and pushed him when he had the temerity to try
and get the ball off him.
Aalborg were enjoying the occasion so much they did not
make a lot of any of the incidents. Up against the Spanish or
Italians they will be going down and calling for Rooney to go and
the ref might just listen.
Rooney’s frustration was no doubt born from the fact
that United should have had the game won in the first half.
The Aalborg players and their fans knew that chances to
play at one of the most famous stadiums don’t come along too often
and how they revelled in it. According to coach Allan Kuhn after
the match, it was the greatest moment in their history.
The 3,000 Danish fans managed to make more noise than
their 60,000-plus English rivals.
At one point they even sang ‘Everywhere we go, people
want to know, who we are.’ I doubt that but they were enjoying
themselves.
No more so than when defender Michael Jakobsen headed
in a 32nd-minute equaliser, the first Champions League goal United
have conceded here in a year. By that time the Reds, even with a
team showing nine changes from the Sunderland win, should have had
the game out of sight.
United were ahead after just three minutes. Ryan Giggs
sliced the defence open with a ball into the path of Carlos Tevez,
who showed great poise in firing into the bottom left-hand
corner.
It should have been game over just two minutes later
but Tevez shot the wrong side of a post.
At this stage it was unthinkable that Aalborg would
enter the break ahead but that’s exactly what happened.
Anders Due’s inswinging free-kick was met with a flick
header by Jakobsen — a special moment for a massive United fan who
missed the first game due to a ban.
Then in the first minute of injury time they went ahead
when Jeppe Curth met Due’s cross with a superb header, although
United keeper Tomasz Kuszczack appeared to have cement in his
boots.
The Aalborg fans were in dreamland. Even Rooney’s
equaliser did not dampen their spirits.
Anderson provided the 52nd-minute through-ball and
Rooney took off before firing through the keeper’s legs. Why
doesn’t he just stick to doing that?
Aalborg’s sporting director Lynge Jakobsen said he would fly
home naked if they got a point. Hopefully he was careful when the
fasten seatbelts sign came on
