Wayne Rooney, the former star of Manchester United, has shared his thoughts on Alejandro Garnacho’s acrobatic goal and drawn a parallel with his own spectacular overhead kick in 2011.
Rooney appeared as a pundit on BBC One for Manchester United’s FA Cup tie against Nottingham Forest.
United scraped through to the quarter-finals thanks to a controversial late winner from Casemiro that VAR spent a significant time checking before awarding the goal.
Casemiro’s winner was under similar scrutiny to Virgil Van Dijk’s chalked-off effort in the Carabao Cup final last week, but this time around VAR decided there was no blocking done by the offside Raphael Varane
Despite the win the overall performance from United was rather concerning, with no real response to their home defeat to Fulham in the Premier League.
Erik ten Hag’s men now travel for likely their toughest game of the season at the Etihad against Manchester City.
In the Match of the Day studio, Rooney gave an honest preview of the weekend’s derby.
“Yeah I scored a few but it’s a very difficult game, simple as that. City are a fantastic team, so it’s a big challenge for Man United coming up at the weekend,” The former United forward explained.
During the broadcast, Rooney was also questioned about his famous bicycle kick against their local rivals back in 2011, with Jermaine Jenas finally asking if it came off his shin.
“I’ve always said it’s actually harder to score with your shin, yeah, it’s a harder technique,” Rooney joked.
“But honestly I actually don’t know, it does look like it.”
The goal has been consistently compared to Alejandro Garnacho’s strike in November against Everton, and the United record goal scorer admitted the Argentine may have outdone his derby day strike.
With a graceful arc of his back, Garnacho quickly scanned the field and unleashed a stunning shot. His goal was as brilliant as Rooney’s, and it will likely compete for the Puskas Award in 2024.