Rooney stars as Man Utd close in on knockout stages

Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney is one goal from matching Sir Bobby Charlton’s Manchester United scoring record.

Wayne Rooney became Manchester United’s record European goalscorer as they beat Feyenoord to keep their Europa League fate in their hands.

The Red Devils captain scored his 39th European goal for the club when he clipped the ball over Brad Jones from Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s perfect through ball – with Feyenoord appealing unsuccessfully for offside.

Rooney then set up Juan Mata to slide home the second.

The win was secured when former Liverpool keeper Jones deflected Ibrahimovic’s cross into his own net, and Jesse Lingard curled in a fourth in injury time to make it Jose Mourinho’s biggest win as United boss.

A draw or win at Zorya Luhansk in the final Group A game on Thursday, 8 December would take United into the last 32.

United’s £26m summer signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan was impressive on only his second start for the club.

Mourinho has said the former Borussia Dortmund midfielder, who had previously managed only 134 minutes for the club, needs time to adapt to the “intensity and aggression” of the English game.

Admittedly against weaker opposition, he looked the part with an all-action performance playing centrally behind Ibrahimovic.

He linked up well with team-mates, and would have got on the end of a through ball from Rooney had the England captain not overhit it, after a slick one-pass move between the pair.

One of the game’s outstanding moments came when Mkhitaryan ran from his own half, taking on several Feyenoord defenders, before going down under pressure from Jens Toornstra. The Dutch champions were fortunate the referee did not give a free-kick, which would also have resulted in a red card.

In the end, the 27-year-old managed six shots, including blocked efforts, and came off, alongside Rooney, to a standing ovation after 82 minutes.

Comments

Court grants Fani-Kayode N50m bail

Fani-kayode sandwiched by EFCC officials Justice James Tsoho of the Federal High Court Abuja on Thursday granted a N50m bail to former spokesman of the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode. Fani-Kayode was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a five-count charge of money laundering to the tune of N26m. Fani-Kayode is the sole defendant in the fresh charges numbered, FHC/ABJ/CR/140/2016. The EFCC accused the defendant of diverting 26 million Naira allegedly received from the ONSA while Sambo Dasuki was in office. The anti-graft agency also accused him of handling the said N26 million without going through financial institution as required under the Money Laundering Act. The embattled former minister is already facing 17-count charge of money laundering before the Lagos Division of the court, along with a former Finance Minister; Nenadi Usman, Danjuma Yusuf and a firm; Joint Trust Dimension Nigeria Limited. They were charg...

Pope not involved in Colombian peace deal- Vatican

Pope Francis Pope Francis has turned down a request to play a role in the peace deal between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group. The Vatican in a statement issued on Wednesday in in Vatican City said that an invitation was sent to his Holiness in early August to appoint a representative to participate in the committee that selected the judges for the talks. The statement said that though Pope Francis supported the peace process, he, however, reiterated that he would not get involved in Colombian peace deal. It said that Pope was praying for the enlightenment of the hearts and minds of those who were called to promote the common good of the Colombian nation. A deal was announced last week, putting an end to five decades of internal conflict between government forces and the FARC rebels. The agreement, which needed to be ratified through a referendum in Oct. 2, would entail setting up a special court to grant amnesties or pu...

Man docked for defiling 9-year-old girl

magistrate-court A 33-year-old man, Godwin Otobo, was on Monday docked at a Surulere Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos.For allegedly defiling a nine-year-old girl, ‎Otobo, who lives at No. 10, Borrow Pit St., Sangotedo-Ajah area of Lagos, was said to have defiled the underage girl whose parents also reside in the same compound. The Prosecutor, Sgt. Anthonia Osayande, told the court that the accused committed the offence at about 9.00 p.m. sometimes in September. “The accused defiled the girl in the night when she was fetching water.‎ “The offence contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011,’’ Osayande told the court. The accused pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge of defilement. Ruling on a bail application filed by the accused, Chief Magistrate Ipaye Nwachukwu, granted him bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties in like sum. She said one of the sureties must be a property owner in Lagos State, while the other must be a civil servant on grade...

Global Naija Info

Search This Blog