Louis van Gaal said he was “sick” of answering questions about Wayne Rooney’s form following a tiresome and goalless Manchester derby.
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But although he is now earning widespread acclaim for his performances, Smalling admits he has been unable to shake off the “Mike” nickname after being mistakenly referred to as “Mike Smalling” by Van Gaal during a press conference on United’s summer tour of the United States.
The guest list for Rooney’s game on Aug 3 is expected to be roll-call of his most famous team-mates, with players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs and Steven Gerrard, his predecessor as England captain, likely to be approached.
Rooney’s form has been inconsistent this season and Xavi warned him he is not too big to be dropped by Van Gaal.
They will again be in action at Old Trafford on Wednesday when they host Middlesbrough in the League Cup.
Despite Rooney’s struggles United are fourth in the Premier League and just two points off leaders City and Anderson believes they must win a trophy.
“I would like to thank everyone involved in making this testimonial become a reality”. City’s point was enough to take them back to the top of the Premier League, however.
Rob Cotton, chair of the testimonial committee said: “I will never forget the incredible excitement felt by all Man Utd fans in August 2004, knowing we had just signed the most exciting English prospect of his generation”.
At Old Trafford, United went closest to winning against City when substitute Jesse Lingard turned a high ball from Anthony Martial onto the crossbar before Chris Smalling had a low shot turned around the post by Joe Hart. “We were the team that was really pressing and going for that victor but it wasn’t our luck”.
Manchester City had an obvious disadvantage as the list of injured players was up to 7, but the player they must have missed the most would definetly be their star striker, Sergio Aguero.
Former Fiorentina player Mohamed Salah and Gervinho scored in the first half before Khouma Babacar netted a consolation for Fiorentina with nearly the last kick of the match.
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“I am disappointed, I have told my players that”, he said. I prefer to play in another way but we defended well. But it was too late in this poor advert for the world’s richest soccer competition from two of its wealthiest teams.
