Rooney's Derby Day Dazzler

Although Wayne Rooney is unavailable for Saturday's FA Cup semi-final nobody will ever forget the indelible mark he made on the most recent Manchester derby with his stunning overhead kick.

It was a moment of sheer genius from our No.10 and one that was a subject of debate when Inside United caught up with the man himself and team-mates Michael Carrick and Wes Brown...

Can you talk us through your goal Wayne…
WR: It came off my shin didn’t it?! [Laughs]
MC: That shin-pad deserves a lot of credit!
WR: I just remember Nani’s cross taking a deflection and the ball coming over and just hitting it. You’re always working on your technique, but goals like that are just instinctive. When I was in the air, I remember Berba shouting towards me as if to say ‘what are you doing?!’ Then I turned round and it was in the top corner.
MC: He was just gutted because you’d taken Goal of the Season off him! [All laugh]

How many times have you watched it?
WR: [Smiles] A few! It’s amazing the amount of the people who have come up and asked me to sign pictures of it since. To score a goal like that in a Manchester derby was a great feeling and it’s definitely one of the biggest buzzes I’ve felt after a goal.
WB: It’s one of the biggest buzzes I’ve felt after a goal and I wasn’t even playing!

Where does it rank in terms of goals you’ve scored?
WR: It’s the best I’ve scored in a game but if you ask the lads they’ll tell you I score goals like that every day in training. So it was nice to do it in a game this time!
[All laugh]
WB: No chance.
MC: I’ve been here nearly five years and I’ve never seen him score a goal like that in training!
WB: Don’t forget about that goal against Newcastle Wazza [volley in 2004/05]…
MC: The City goal was more important though.
WB: Yeah it was but I wanted to mention the Newcastle goal so I got a mention because I scored in that game too!

The celebration was Cantona-esque…
WR: Rio asked me to do it before the game. I don’t know why I remembered, but as I was running away to celebrate it came into my head to do it.

What about you guys, what was your view of it? Michael you were just about to come on and Wes you were on the bench…
MC: I was close to doing a Mourinho-style celebration down the touchline but I didn’t have my suit on! Me and Michael Owen were standing pitchside and I think MO ran all the way down to you didn’t he?
WR: Yeah he did.
MC: I didn’t really know what to do or where to run, I just went mad where I was stood like every other United fan inside the ground. The emotion of that moment was unbelievable. I had to remember to calm myself down though because I knew I’d be coming on pretty much straight away.
WB: I completely lost the plot in the dug-out. I was jumping on Chicha and then I started grabbing Strudders [Tony Strudwick]! For that two or three seconds after you’re just lost in the moment.
MC: Yeah I think everything comes to you in that one instant - the importance of the game, the goal you’ve just witnessed and the fact it’s a derby.
WR: I remember waving up to the box where my family sit just after the goal because Coleen had brought Kai to the match, but when I saw Coleen afterwards she said she’d had to leave about a minute before I scored. I couldn’t believe it!