Wayne Rooney’s days as a guaranteed starter for Manchester United appear to be over.
After a string of lacklustre performances drew criticism from United’s supporters, the England captain found himself benched by Jose Mourinho during the 4-1 win over Leicester last weekend.
Despite suggestions from Mourinho that he would start United’s meeting with Zorya Luhansk on Thursday night, a slight back injury saw Rooney begin the Europa League match back in the Old Trafford dugout.
He did eventually make it on to the pitch, and when he did, his beautifully-weighted and quite deliberate pass [OR scuffed shot into the turf] fell perfectly for Zlatan Ibrahimovic to nod home the only goal of the game.
Unintentional assist aside, there wasn’t a great deal that caught the eye in Rooney’s 20-something-minute cameo… although some United fans did spot what appeared to be Ibrahimovic expressing his frustration at his club captain.
Several tweets flagged up this moment, which came four minutes from the end of regulation time.
A clearance from United sees Ibrahimovic attempting to close down a Zorya defender. As he does, the Swede gestures for Rooney to pick up one of the other Zorya players. Rooney makes little attempt to get tight to the player Ibrahimovic has pointed out, who – under no pressure at all – soon receives the ball before playing a pass back to another teammate.
Seeing this, Ibrahimovic responds by briefly lifting his head to the heavens, appearing to mutter something to himself a few seconds later.
https://twitter.com/ForzaMundial/status/781606353253068804
https://twitter.com/PeoplesPerson_/status/781767854664318976
Although some will read far too much into this, we should point out that the pair seemed absolutely fine with each other after the full-time whistle.
Victory can do that.
United now face Stoke City at the weekend where they will hope to record their fourth successive win.
Will it be Mayo (or the Dubs) 4 Sam? Wooly, Paul Galvin and Conán Doherty preview Saturday’s All-Ireland final replay.
