Manchester United 0-0 Everton: Wayne Rooney plays 53 minutes of his testimonial match as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Jose Mourinho make home bows
He arrived
at Old Trafford 12 years ago this month as a pugnacious teenager. When
Wayne Rooney walked out at Old Trafford for his testimonial on Wednesday
night, he was the man in every sense.
Captain
of Manchester United, captain of his country for now, and father of
three boys – Kai, Klay and Kit – who joined him on the walk out of the
tunnel to an ovation from the United fans and those of his old club
Everton, Rooney has come a long way. He is England’s record scorer and
soon to be United’s as well.
There
have been a few bumps along the way, not least the two times when he
came close to leaving Old Trafford before signing a new contract, but
few would dispute that he has lived up to expectations since making that
£30million move from Merseyside in 2004.
Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney applauds his fans as he is replaced after 53 minutes of his testimonial match
Rooney (right) is congratulated by Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho as he makes his way off the Old Trafford pitch
Everton midfielder Gareth Barry tries to stop Rooney in his tracks as the two Premier League clubs gear up for the new season
Manchester United teenager Marcus Rashford came off the bench to replace Rooney with 37 minutes still left on the clock
Zlatan Ibrahimovic lets out a roar after squandering a chance to break the deadlock in Rooney's testimonial match
As
an occasion to celebrate more than a decade of goals and glory, this
was perhaps not the most thrilling of nights. But Rooney the fierce
competitor would have welcomed the fact that both United and Everton
treated the game as a full-scale warm-up for the new season as they
fielded strong line-ups and cancelled each other out in a game of few
chances.
Jose
Mourinho’s team face champions Leicester in the Community Shield at
Wembley on Sunday ahead of the start of the new Premier League season,
and it was an opportunity for him to give the senior players who missed
the club’s tour of China another run-out following Saturday’s win over
Galatasaray in Gothenburg.
It
meant home debuts for new signings Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Eric Bailly,
with Henrik Mkhitaryan coming on as a second-half substitute. Mourinho,
too, was making his first appearance in the Old Trafford dugout, having
sidestepped the task of coaching an England XI here at Soccer Aid in
June after his appointment was confirmed.
The
Portuguese coach stood in the technical area for most of the match but,
interestingly, kept returning to a seat at ground level alongside his
backroom staff, preferring the viewpoint they had at Chelsea to the
elevated dugout at Old Trafford.
Everton
also used the game as serious preparation for the new season with their
new manager Ronald Koeman naming a strong line-up following their
involvement in the Dresden Cup last weekend.
John
Stones played at the heart of back-three but is likely to become a more
permanent fixture in Manchester if City can strike a compromise deal
with Everton for the England defender. Koeman could lose another player
for the start of the season if a second-half injury to substitute
Muhamed Besic is as bad as it first appeared.
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