STOKE CITY 1, MANCHESTER UNITED 1
- Juan Mata own goal cancelled out by stunning Wayne Rooney free kick in injury time
- Rooney’s goal is his 250th for Manchester United, 1 clear of Sir Bobby Charlton, and makes him United’s all-time top goalscorer.
Wayne Rooney came off the bench and notched up goal number 250 for Manchester United to rescue a point for the Reds while moving ahead of Sir Bobby Charlton on his own as United’s all-time top goalscorer.
It was also fitting that the equaliser, a stunning free kick, came in Fergie-time – in the 94th minute.
Until then, the Reds had laboured to overcome their hosts, Stoke City, who led after 19 minutes following an unfortunate Juan Mata own goal.
Sir Bobby Charlton was sad to finally see his scoring record slip from his grasp after 44 years but described his joy for Rooney’s efforts:
“I’d be lying to say I’m not disappointed to lose the record. However, I can honestly say I’m delighted for Wayne.
“He’s a true great for club and country. It’s fitting he is now the highest goalscorer for both United and England.”
Rooney himself declared himself honoured to become United’s leading goalscorer, thanking Sir Bobby for his kind words after the game.
The man who signed Rooney for United, Sir Alex Ferguson, added: “Wayne thoroughly deserves his place in the history books and I’m sure he’ll go on to score many more goals.”
Reds boss Jose Mourinho was happy for Rooney to break the record but was keen to get back to business as usual with an EFL Cup semi-final against Hull on Thursday after a day of celebration.
He declared: “The achievement is wonderful – it stays in the history of our club for many, many, many years to come.”
On the game, Mourinho wasn’t happy with two points lost against a team he didn’t feel happy about not beating, after peppering the Stoke goal with 25 shots during the game.
He said: “We dominated the game for 70 minutes and created chance after chance but after 25 minutes one team decided to defend.
“David de Gea doesn’t touch the ball. We scored an own goal, missed open goals, and hit the post. I’m not happy about the game.”
United had made four changes for the tough physical encounter at Stoke, with Chris Smalling, Daley Blind, Marouane Fellaini, and Juan Mata coming in for Marcos Rojo, Matteo Darmian, Michael Carrick and Anthony Martial but found Potters goalkeeper Lee Grant in inspiring form as they toiled against Stoke.
More than that, Erik Pieters’ cross squeezed past the luckless David De Gea after a wicked deflection off Mata.
Granted an unexpected lead, Stoke retreated and began to frustrate United who totally dominated the game.
Mata, Fellaini and Paul Pogba failed to score an equaliser while Pogba saw a cutback deflect off a Stoke City defender’s arm as he slid in to deny Mata a scoring chance.
Marcus Rashford fired wide while claims for a Ryan Shawcross handball were ignored.
Jesse Lingard then hit the bar as the game seemed to be drifting away from United before Marcus Rashford was brought down by Joe Allen wide on the left as the Reds tried to work one more clear chance on goal.
It was the 4th minute of injury time and the Rooney choose that moment to put himself into the history books in style.