Rooney delight at wonder goal

Wayne Rooney has hailed his stunning overhead winner in Manchester United’s 2-1 victory over Manchester City as the best goal of his career.

Saturday’s Manchester derby will forever be remembered for Rooney’s glorious strike, one which pushed United eight points clear of their bitter rivals and seemingly ended City’s title aspirations this season.

Rooney leapt to meet Nani’s cross 12 minutes from injury time and magically picked out the top-right corner beyond a despairing Joe Hart, prompting scenes of wild celebration at Old Trafford.

Asked after the game if the goal was the best he had ever scored, Rooney told Sky Sports: “Yeah, I think so. I saw the ball come in the box and I thought, ‘why not?’.”

“I tried to get in a good position from when Nani crossed it. Nine times out of 10 they go over the crossbar or wide. I tried it and thankfully it’s gone in the top corner.”

“You don’t have time to think about what you’re going to do. It’s the first (overhead) one since I started playing professionally so I’m delighted, especially as it has given us three points.”

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was effusive in his praise of Rooney’s winner, declaring he had never before witnessed a goal quite like it.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, that’s for sure. It was absolutely stunning; unbelievable,” Ferguson told Sky Sports.

“The thing about that goal is that Nani’s goal (in the 41st minute) will be completely forgotten. It was an unbelievable goal but no-one in their right sense will even talk about it.”

Asked if he thought the goal would kick-start Rooney’s at-times sluggish season, Ferguson said: “I hope so. His performances away from home have not been as good as they have been at home and with the ability those two (Rooney and Nani) have, they should really dictate games away from home.”

Ferguson said his side had bounced back brilliantly from their shock loss to Wolverhampton, though he cautioned that City were not out of the title race yet.

“I thought City made the bright start, they got inside (Patrice) Evra with (David) Silva and Yaya Toure and that caused us a bit of bother,” he said.

“But from the 15th minute on I thought we played fantastic football.”

“(City) got a lucky break when (Edin) Dzeko’s shot deflected off Silva and from that moment on they gave them the impetus.”

“They are in the top four. They’ve got a big, strong squad. They will win more games than you’d think. They are still a threat.”

City boss Roberto Mancini felt his side deserved a draw, but conceded that little could be done to stop a goal as brilliant as Rooney’s.

“When a fantastic player like Rooney scores a goal like that, you should clap,” Mancini said.

“When you score a goal like that, it is incredible. He scored a fantastic goal.”

“I feel sorry for my players because we didn’t deserve to lose this game. I’m proud of my players. We played as a team and played very well.”

“In the second half we controlled the game and United had 10 players behind the ball in midfield.”