Rooney turned 30 on Saturday but with a big derby clash against Manchester City to prepare for the following day, celebrations were postponed until Sunday night.
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Manchester United’s English striker Wayne Rooney (R) is treated for a head injury.
City moved to the top of the Barclays Premier League last night but their tiresome 0-0 draw against United in the Manchester derby at Old Trafford certainly won’t go down as a highlight of the season.
“I would like to thank everyone involved in making this testimonial become a reality”, Rooney said. Asked whether there was any concern over Rooney, Van Gaal replied: “OK, then you have to write it with your opinion”. Both City and Arsenal have 22 points, but City has a larger goal difference.
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Half way through the first half, Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs gave the away side the lead with a low effort into the bottom corner of the goal. There were no such excuses for Louis van Gaal’s United, although they came closest to scoring when Anthony Martial, the hosts’ stand-out forward, teed up substitute Jesse Lingard to volley against the bar late on.
“I think if we came into today’s fixture and, if someone told us we would get a clean sheet, we would have taken your hand off”, the 25-year-old Smalling said.
Van Gaal bristled at the first mention of the 30-year-old in his post-match press conference.
“It’s important to have a point here, another point in the table, but I don’t think it’s the way the team must play”.
“When you play 90 minutes, where you are concentrated and focused like we were, then I am proud”.
“I read a lot in the media about teams playing tactical games or mind games and coming for a draw: for me, it’s not the way to do it”, Pellegrini, the City manager, said.
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“Rojo played a very good match, not only against De Bruyne but also against Jesus Navas”, the manager said, as reported by manutd.com. That was my remark: ‘You can shoot from outside the box. Chris Smalling and Phil Jones were also solid while Antonio Valencia produced his best display of the season up against England global Raheem Sterling.
