United Record In Rooney's Sights

There is no doubting 2016 has, so far, been a good year for Wayne Rooney. After celebrating the birth of his third child last weekend, the Manchester United skipper netted his sixth goal in as many games in the FA Cup victory at Derby County and the striker admitted afterwards that, while he's focused on helping the team win matches, he does have one eye on breaking Sir Bobby Charlton's club scoring record.

Rooney's sublime strike in the fourth-round win over the Rams was his 243rd goal for the Reds and means he is now just six behind Sir Bobby's long-standing tally of 249.

The 30-year-old claimed the all-time goals record for his country earlier this season, also previously held by Sir Bobby, and Rooney says he is simply delighted to be mentioned alongside the United and England legend.

"Of course, I’m well aware [of getting closer to the record]," he told reporters after Friday's Cup win. "Like the England record, when it was getting closer, it was coming up every week, so I’m sure it will now.

"It’s great to be mentioned alongside Sir Bobby’s record and hopefully, before the end of the season, I can pass that and kick on from there.

"It’s been a good start to the new year personally, scoring goals and feeling fit," he added. "Although last Saturday [against Southampton] was a bad result, on a personal level I'm enjoying my game and scoring goals so hopefully that’ll continue.”

Rooney set United on the way to a 3-1 win at Derby on Friday evening and, while the Rams levelled proceedings before the break, the Reds' improved display across the course of the 90 minutes led to a deserved victory.

“It was obviously a better performance than last week’s game but the manager gave us a lot of freedom to go and play and I think you can see the difference in the team," explained Rooney. "You could see we were enjoying it, scoring some good goals and thoroughly deserved to win.

“It’s unfair to say it’s [down to] the manager - we’re on the pitch," he continued, when asked about some of the recent criticism of Louis van Gaal and his men. "So the players have to take a lot of responsibility for performances and results. We have to stand up and take criticism when it’s there.

"We want to win, we always want to win, and we’re trying. Even when you’re giving 100 per cent, it doesn’t always come off but, thankfully on Friday, it did. Hopefully, we can put in another performance like this again on Tuesday and take this into the game against Stoke.”