Wayne Rooney has now insisted he “never set foot” into the wedding at the Grove Hotel that sparked a controversial row about his off-field antics.
The England and Manchester United captain was forced to issue an apology after he was pictured, apparently the worse for wear, at a wedding at the same hotel England were staying in after the 3-0 win over Scotland earlier this month.
But after he netted in United’s 4-0 Europa League win over Feyenoord last night, he again faced questions about the incident – and claimed he never actually attended the wedding.
“All that is created by people like yourself asking questions now,” Rooney told BT Sport.
“I think it is people in the media making a big deal over nothing.
“I actually didn’t even set foot into the wedding and I think it’s a shame that I am having to talk about it now after such a great victory.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ofqa2KHHIk&t=69s
His comments to BT Sport reporter Des Kelly came after he scored his 39th European goal for United, taking him above Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record, and leaving him just one shy of Sir Bobby Charlton’s record of 249 goals for the club.
After the match his team-mate Zlatan Ibrahimovic insisted that Rooney deserves more respect.
https://twitter.com/TopFlightTalk/status/801895449393328129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
“I think when you’re a person like that, when you’re famous like that, people are interested, they want to know everything,” he said.
“I don’t know what has happened, I didn’t even ask him because it’s not important for me and I’m 100 per cent sure the media doesn’t know what really happened.
“I think we should appreciate him for the player he is, what he did. I don’t see many players from England who have had the same career as him. I feel a little bit sorry of the situation because we should show more respect for him.
“As a player, there are no words to not say about him – he’s the perfect player. Everybody knows what he can do, what he did, what he has done. I’m happy for him to break the record and I will help him to go one more – then I see it as the real record.”
Dick Clerkin makes his GAA Hour debut to talk about a wonderful career and argue passionately with Colm Parkinson over Sky Sports GAA. Subscribe here on iTunes.
