Spectacular Rooney seals record in style

IT seemed fitting that when the landmark moment finally came for Wayne Rooney, it was pretty spectacular.

The 31-year-old on Saturday secured the status he has long been expected to - Manchester United's outright, all-time highest scorer - not with a tap-in but a stunning effort, sweeping in a stoppage-time free-kick to salvage his side a 1-1 draw at Stoke.

What was his 250th United goal, moving him clear of Sir Bobby Charlton at the top of the list, demonstrated again something apparent from the early days of Rooney's career - his knack for conjuring something really special when hitting the back of the net.

Prior to joining United from Everton, a 16-year-old Rooney had announced himself to the world in October 2002 with a superb late strike to hand the Toffees a 2-1 win over Arsenal.

And after the move to Old Trafford went through in 2004, the young forward marked his Red Devils debut against Fenerbahce in the Champions League with a brilliant hat-trick - wrapped up direct from a free-kick.

VOLLEY

He went on to take the BBC's Goal of the Season award for that campaign with a volley against Middlesbrough and claimed it again in 2006-07 thanks to a delicate finish against Bolton Wanderers, before completing a treble in 2010-11 with an outrageous overhead kick that sealed a sweet 2-1 derby win over neighbours Manchester City.

A fantastic range of eye-catching efforts among an unmatched glut of goals that has helped United to many a trophy - Rooney's honours with United include five Premier League titles, one FA Cup, two League Cups and the 2007-08 Champions League.

And yet, with all that and 546 appearances for the club under his belt, the current captain has had a considerable amount of criticism to deal with, including from the Old Trafford faithful.

While Charlton is so widely revered, Rooney appears to have struggled somewhat for similar levels of affection.

That may be because, although Rooney has also usurped World Cup-winner Charlton as his country's leading scorer, he is part of an England generation deemed by many to have hugely underachieved.

Fifty-three goals in 119 caps is an undeniably excellent international record, but plenty will argue the current Three Lions skipper has simply not delivered when it really counted at major tournament finals.

Certainly a lot of the time this season, during which he has so often been left out of the first XI, it has seemed easy for any claim that he is a United 'legend' to be dismissed.

But then he stepped off the bench on Saturday and brought that debate right back to the fore, having delivered a wonderful reminder of the kind of player he has been.