Wayne Rooney: My Decade in the Premier League (32 page)

Premier League winner.

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Danger men: training with Ronaldo and Nani at Carrington. Those two have helped me to a lot of goals.

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The energy of playing top flight football summed up: the red mist comes down whenever we lose, like in this 2-0 defeat against Fulham in March 2009 when I was sent off.

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The buzz of scoring is like nothing else. When it happens – like in this Carling Cup semi final against City in January 2010, where I scored the winning goal – I lose my head. For five or six seconds afterwards I honestly don’t know what I’m doing.

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Playing against Lionel Messi in the 2009 Champions League final. An amazing player. The things he can do with a ball are unbelievable.

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Winning the Carling Cup in 2010. At United we take every trophy dead seriously.

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The agony of my busted foot in the first leg of the 2010 Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich.

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Lining up in the tunnel against Bayern Munich for the second leg. It’s long and dark, narrow and cramped. Psychologically, a lot of games are won here. We beat Bayern 3-2 on the night, but go out on away goals.

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Leaving the hospital in my
Robocop
boot after my ankle injury. Wearing that thing drove me mad.

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Winning the PFA Players’ Player of the Year in 2010. Personal accolades are nice but they mean nothing if United don’t get a trophy or two.

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When The Manager’s in a good mood (when we’re winning) he jokes with the players …

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… but if I’m not playing to his high standards then I often get The Hairdryer.

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My overhead kick against City in 2011. Nani’s cross got a deflection, which gave me the time to think, ‘I’m having a go at this …’

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