But what a game. On September 28 Rooney made his debut in European club football, scoring a spectacular hat-trick in less than an hour. He was 18, and it was not only Fenerbahce who yielded to him that night. Newspapers across Europe put Rooney on their front page.
If the Continent has its eyes on any individual player as the Champions League restarts, it is surely the Manchester United forward. Is he ready for a challenge like Milan? Can he perform against the team which, over the past three seasons in this competition, has had the most asphyxiating defence? When Sir Alex Ferguson signed the teenager, he suggested Rooney had the potential to make the same impact on United as Eric Cantona. But he may now be hoping his prediction was flawed — Cantona, after all, was the talisman whose charm wore off in Europe, scoring just five times in 16 matches. Ferguson defended the Frenchman at the time, but later admitted that he had some kind of “ mental block” when it came to realising his talent at the very highest level.
Rooney, meanwhile, has already scored as many goals in the Champions League as Cantona had after four years
at United, and there are good reasons to think he can succeed where his forebear failed. If there was a flaw in Cantona’s technical make-up, it was an occasional tendency towards ponderousness. Against the hard-pressing midfields and defences of Europe, he never seemed to have quite enough time on the ball. Rooney is a quicker, more explosive player. He can generate extreme shooting power from an almost uniquely short backlift, allowing him to get in dangerous strikes on goal in the briefest of instants.
Cantona was also burdened by his very importance to United. Everything revolved around him in Ferguson’s team of the mid-1990s, whereas in the current edition Rooney is just one of four or five players with penetrative responsibilities. Press Cantona in 1995, and you could pressure United. Close Rooney down in 2005, and you may open space for Paul Scholes, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ruud van Nistelrooy or Ryan Giggs.
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World Soccer leavened its projection of Rooney with a curious line in its editorial, which stated that “on current form, Rooney is threatening to self-destruct in spectacular fashion”.
It was a reference to the youngster’s onfield discipline, yet a look through the record book reveals that his “current form” as regards red and yellow cards is four bookings in 26 appearances for United and three in 21 games for England.
That is hardly the rap sheet of a dangerous footballing criminal. Compared with the 20 cautions and one sending-off he incurred in just two seasons with Everton, it suggests a reformed character. But even if it overstated its case, you know what the magazine means. Rooney’s behaviour has undoubtedly been right on the line of what is acceptable in several games this season. If there are any provocateurs who know exactly how to push a player over that line, you will find them in an Italian defence.
“You only have to look at their experience,” said Ferguson, marvelling about Milan’s back line. “Paolo Maldini is 37 or 38 and Cafu’s 36, and he’s still getting up and down that line. He’s got two hearts, that guy.”
Maldini, in fact, is 36 and Cafu is only 34, but given that the Brazilian, with 120 appearances for his country, is the less-capped footballer of the two, you take Ferguson’s point that the pair are hoary.
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Jaap Stam, 32, Alessandro Nesta, 29 next month, and Alessandro Costacurta, 38, are Milan’s other defenders in contention to face United. Maldini made his professional debuts before Rooney was born, and Costacurta while young Wayne was in
nappies.
So at the back, Milan will have both the nous and the inclination to provoke Rooney, and in midfield, in Rino Gattuso, they have another wind-up merchant. Add the fact that European referees may be less inclined than the domestic version to be lenient towards English football’s Golden One, and Wednesday’s game looms as a thorough test of Rooney’s temperament.
In terms of the overall examination of United, Ferguson is sanguine. Noting how his club had learnt from their several meetings with Juventus and two with Internazionale in the late 1990s, he said: “Playing an Italian team does not present the same trepidation now. It is not the same awesome task it was, say, 10 years ago.”
Alongside Rooney will be Van Nistelrooy, back from injury in time to play in the competition in which he excels most. His 36 goals in 37 games eclipses the record of any other striker in Champions League history. “You see Ruud’s record, and he’s the best. He’s tailor-made for European football. It’s his meat and bread, he just loves it. He becomes a different animal,” said Ferguson. Whether Milan rue Wednesday may come down to Roo and Ruud.