WAYNE ROONEY BECAME Manchester United’s outright leading European goal-scorer as Jose Mourinho’s side enhanced their chances of progressing in the Europa League by sinking Feyenoord 4-0 on Thursday.
Rooney struck in the 35th minute to claim his 39th European goal, one more than Ruud van Nistelrooy, and move to within just one goal of Bobby Charlton’s all-time club scoring record of 249.
Further goals by Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard and a Brad Jones own goal completed a win that left United a point below Group A leaders Fenerbahce in second place ahead of their final game at Zorya Luhansk.
United will go into that game knowing a draw will take them into the last 32, having avenged their 1-0 match-one day defeat at Feyenoord, who slipped to third in the group.
Thursday’s win was a personal triumph for Rooney, 31, who branded the British media “disgraceful” after he was pilloried for partying late into the night while on England duty.
Charlton, now a United director, was watching on at Old Trafford and could now see Rooney equal his record against West Ham United in the Premier League on Sunday.
Mourinho made six changes to the United team held 1-1 by Arsenal last Saturday, the most notable of which saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan make his first start since September 10.
The Armenia playmaker, a 26 million pounds ($32.4 million, 30.7 million euros) signing from Borussia Dortmund, showed no signs of rustiness and was a source of menace throughout.
After a strong start, there was a scare for United midway through the first half when Eljero Elia jinked past Phil Jones and delivered a cross that was deflected into the path of Rick Karsdorp.
The right-back’s shot was blocked by United goalkeeper Sergio Romero and when Dirk Kuyt smashed the rebound goalwards, the Argentina international stuck out his right leg to complete a smart double save.
- Mkhitaryan goes close -
Feyenoord had struck late to defeat United in the reverse fixture in Rotterdam, but any thoughts of a repeat were banished 10 minutes before half-time as Rooney rolled back the clock in style.
Picking up the ball on the left touchline inside his own half, he beat Karsdorp, slid a pass infield to Zlatan Ibrahimovic and cantered into the box to collect the Swede’s through ball and dink a shot over former Liverpool goalkeeper Jones.
There was a question of offside, and Renato Tapia was left on the deck after a coming-together with Rooney on the edge of the box, but German referee Manuel Graefe allowed the goal to stand.
Energised by the goal, United began to turn it on the second half.
Mkhitaryan sped past five Feyenoord players, only to be denied a free-kick after being clipped by Jens Toornstra, while Mata’s elegant chip drew a finger-tip save from the backpedalling Jones.
Mkhitaryan was soon on the scene again, exchanging passes with Ibrahimovic, stealing past Kuyt — another Liverpool old boy — and thrashing a left-foot shot into the side-netting.
A second goal seemed a matter of time and so it proved in the 69th minute as Ibrahimovic’s deft pass freed Rooney, who cleverly squared the ball for Mata to slide it home.
Jones denied Ibrahimovic after his weak kick had gone straight to Mkhitaryan, but he was more obliging moments later when he inadvertently deflected the Swede’s cross into his own goal.
Lingard, a late replacement for Mata, was twice thwarted by Jones, but prevailed at the third attempt with a curling left-foot shot.
Tonight’s Europa League results in full
Group A
Fenerbahce (TUR) 2 (Stoch 59, Kjaer 67) Zorya Luhansk (UKR) 0
Manchester United (ENG) 4 (Rooney 35, Mata 69, Jones 75-og, Lingard 90+2) Feyenoord (NED) 0
Group B
FC Astana (KAZ) 2 (Anicic 59, Despotovic 84) APOEL (CYP) 1 (Efrem 31)
Olympiakos (GRE) 1 (Fortounis 48) Young Boys (SUI) 1 (Hoarau 58)
Group C
Qabala (AZE) 1 (Ricardinho 15-pen) RSC Anderlecht (BEL) 3 (Tielemans 11, Bruno 90, Teodorczyk 90+4)
Saint-Etienne (FRA) 0 Mainz 05 (GER) 0
Group D
Dundalk (IRL) 0 AZ Alkmaar (NED) 1 (Weghorst 9)
Zenit St Petersburg (RUS) 2 (Kokorin 44, Kerzhakov 90+1) Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR) 0
Group E
Austria Vienna (AUT) 1 (Rotpuller 57) Astra Giurgiu (ROU) 2 (Florea 79, Budescu 88-pen)
AS Roma (ITA) 4 (Dzeko 11, 61, 88, Perotti 82) Viktoria Plzen (CZE) 1 (Zeman 18)
Group F
Athletic Bilbao (ESP) 3 (Raul Garcia 10, Aduriz 58, Inigo Lekue 79) Sassuolo (ITA) 2 (Balenziaga 2-og, Ragusa 83)
Genk (BEL) 1 (Karelis 11) Rapid Vienna (AUT) 0
Group G
Ajax (NED) 2 (Schoene 40, Tete 50) Panathinaikos (GRE) 0
Celta Vigo (ESP) 1 (Aspas 8) Standard Liege (BEL) 1 (Laifis 81)
Group H
Gent (BEL) 2 (Coulibaly 32, Milicevic 40) Sporting Braga (POR) 2 (Stoiljkovic 14, Ahmed Hassan 36)
Shaktar Donetsk (UKR) 4 (Abdulkerim Bardakci 11-og, Dentinho 36, Eduardo 66, Bernard 74) Konyaspor (TUR) 0
Group I
Schalke 04 (GER) 2 (Konoplyanka 14, Aogo 80-pen) Nice (FRA) 0
FK Krasnodar (RUS) 1 (Smolov 85) Salzburg (AUT) 1 (Dabbur 37)
Group J
Fiorentina (ITA) 2 (Bernardeschi 33, Babacar 50) PAOK (GRE) 3 (Shakhov 5, Djalma Campos 26, Rodrigues 90+3)
Slovan Liberec (CZE) 3 (Vuch 11, Komlichenko 57-pen, 63) FK Qarabag (AZE) 0
Group K
Hapoel Beer Sheva (ISR) 3 (Lucio Maranhao 58, Nwakaeme 71-pen, Sahar 90+3) Inter Milan (ITA) 2 (Icardi 13, Brozovic 25)
Sparta Prague (CZE) 1 (Costa 11) Southampton (ENG) 0
Group L
FC Zurich (SUI) 1 (Rodriguez 87-pen) Villarreal (ESP) 1 (Bruno Soriano 14)
Steaua Bucharest (ROU) 2 (Momcilovic 68, Tamas 86) Osmanlispor (TUR) 1 (Ndiaye 30)
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No they’d be terrible. As a Forest fan, I think the team have been, for the most part playing good attacking football and scoring goals. They’ve been inconsistent – a little soft at the back is all. Due to the influx of cash, the standard in the EFL is far more technically proficient and tactically sophisticated league (at the top end at least) than it was when O’Neill and Keane last managed this division. I’ve seen nothing in their recent work to suggest they have the tactical savvy to do a job for Forest. They certainly don’t have tne man-management skills to get the best out of the modern professional footballer.
@Fergal O’ Reilly: yes because they got to the last 16 of the euros and 90 mins from a World Cup without having a clue about tactics. Sick of people churning out this shpeel about o Neil and Keane.
@Lorcan Cunningham: there was a horrible amount of luck and just plain heart and fight by the players to get there though. When the adrenaline of the Euros died, then the will of the players did too. There’s nothing motivating about playing the same aimless football for the following two years when smaller countries with less talent become more proficient and confident.
@Lorcan Cunningham: Nah! You’ve cherrypicked one example of things working out – and there’s probably one or two other properly “impressive” displays e.g. Germany and Serbia. (But even then what exactly was their tactical master stroke? ) And anyway, the last 12-18 months have been abject – deplorable even – with ZERO semblance of a tactical game plan . And on top of that, you need to be even better man-managers in a club environment because of player/agent-power. The two lads are beyond abysmal in that department.
@Fergal O’ Reilly: last 12 months things crumbled due to injuries/retirements. The lads were at the helm for some memorable nights for Irish football over their tenure, nights that had been lacking for a decade. Get off the o Neill’s a dinosaur bandwagon lads it’s embarrassing.
@Fergal O’ Reilly: I don’t think anybody could disagree with you . O’Neill would be absolute disaster for Forest. In fact I think he would be a disaster for any team. If you want to watch dross week in week out, get Big Sam. At least you would have some chance of promotion
In the context of management, to mention Brian Clough and Martin O’Neill in the same sentence is sacrilegious. Brian Clough was one of the greatest football managers who ever lived. Martin O’Neill was at best a journeyman manager.
@Fergal O’ Reilly: The Big Sam thing was a joke by the way. You should also pray the don’t get Big Sam.
@Lorcan Cunningham: I’m not on the “dinosaur bandwagon” apropos of nothing (like I’d never bring it up for the sake of getting a dig in – that’d be puerile, and indeed embarrassing) …I only make the case for his lack of tactical nous in making the case against his being considered for the role
@CrabaRev: Ha! I get you! To be honest, we’ve almost been relegated for the past few seasons, been banned from the transfer market for FPA transgressions, had parts of the stadium closed off etc. I just think that being 4 points off a promotion spot in mid January isn’t a bad place to be, and this manager should have been given more time and resources.
@Lorcan Cunningham: Not as embarrassing as O’Neill himself. From his amazing lack of on-field tactics, to his total lack of regimented training sessions (no practicing of set piece defending?!) to his contemptuous attitude to the Irish media and Tony O’Donoghue in particular.
The man belongs in the dustbin of history, and should be let nowhere near any professional setup.
Let’s see what they can do when they can actually buy in players unlike international football. The ‘we haven’t got the footballers’ excuse would work here
He wasn’t fired!
“RUNNN FORREST RUNNN”
I’d like to see Keane work as a No. 2 for a manager who plays attacking football such as Brendan Rodgers or Roberto Martinez.
1. Karanka was not fired – he resigned, as per the club website.
2. In what parallel universe would either O’Neill or Keane be a good fit for Forest? A generation of Forest fans were brought up on free flowing passing football as practiced by Brian Clough. The younger ones want this to remain as the club ethos – we do not want to watch ‘$hit on a stick’ football with no real tactics as played by O’Neill sides. Clough once famously said “if god had wanted football to be played in the clouds, he’d have put grass up there”. O’Neill has never heeded his mentor’s coaching philosophy as a manager, somewhat ironic given that O’Neill was a cultured playmaker himself.
No, two coaches we definitely do not want to see employed at the City Ground are Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane.
@Colm O’Sullivan: I hope it’s neither of those two. I’ve a feeling it could be Jokanovic
Always liked O’Neill as a manager, gave Leicester a great belief when they were down and out! I don’t think he will be considered though…feel Marinakis will look for someone like Mark Hughes or David Moyes
That is ironic; good last line.
Daryl Murphy will end up there if Roy Keane goes there, Roy Keane and Daryl Murphy go together just as well as Harry Redknapp and Nico Kranjcar
@Eddie Dillon.: Daryl Murphy is already there.
@Eddie Dillon.: Ah jaysus Eddie