Rooney Never In Doubt

Even as Chelsea built a three-goal advantage inside an hour at Stamford Bridge, Wayne Rooney retained full confidence in the abilities of himself and his team.

The Reds stormed back to grab an unlikely point in a thrilling encounter, with Rooney displaying admirable nerve to convert two penalties after missing three spot-kicks already this term.

"I thought if we could get a goal with a bit of time left there was always a chance," he told MUTV. "We were controlling the game and thankfully we got an early goal in the second half and the second one not too long after. That gave us time to chase the equaliser.

"I've missed the last two (penalties) before today and the manager asked me if I wanted to continue taking them. There was no doubt in my mind. I'm a confident player and I've been practicing penalties for the last two or three years now, since being the penalty taker, and there was no doubt in my mind I was going to score."

Though a point's reward was tinged with frustration after controlling much of the game, Rooney felt that the spirit on show in United's fightback sends out an important message to all onlookers - particularly league leaders Manchester City.

"Everyone knows most teams would lie down and accept defeat at 3-0," he said. "But we fought well, fought hard and even if we fought on and we got 3-1, 3-2 and lost the game then we could have come off and say we'd given our all, but we were thankful we got the point - but still a bit disappointed we didn't get three.

"I'm sure they (City's players) will have all been watching and they've probably gone out at 3-0, thinking the game's over, but we know they won't have liked to have seen the way we fought back and fought for each other. It shows our team spirit, how much we work for each other and once we're like that, we're very difficult to beat."