Wayne Rooney Reveals the Only Player He Faced Who Left Him 'In Awe'

Wayne Rooney snubbed Steven Gerrard, Zinedine Zidane, and several more iconic ex-players, when naming the one star who left him “in awe”.

Rooney, 39, is widely recognised as one of the greatest Premier League strikers of all time, having broken both England’s and Manchester United’s all-time goalscoring records during his illustrious career.

The Everton academy graduate spent 13 years at Old Trafford and helped the Red Devils win 16 trophies - five Premier League titles, one Champions League, one FA Cup, one Europa League, four League Cups, four Community Shields, and one Club World Cup.

Of course, like most successful players, he had a supporting cast made up of world-class talents such as Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo at United and Michael Owen, Gerrard and Frank Lampard with England.

However, when recently naming the top five defenders he faced in the Champions League during his career, he dubbed one as the only player he was left “in awe” of during his playing days when speaking on ‘The Wayne Rooney Show’.

Wayne Rooney in action for Manchester United (Credit:Getty)

Rooney went for former Chelsea centre-back John Terry as the best, followed by ex-Barcelona and United defender Gerard Piqué, AC Milan and Italy legend Paolo Maldini, former Portugal centre-back Riccardo Carvalho and in fifth, AC Milan icon Alessandro Nesta.

The Liverpool-born forward was complimentary of the quintet but homed in on Maldini, describing how it was “one of the only times I have been in awe on a pitch” when he played against the great Italian.

“He played both full back and centre back,” Rooney said of Maldini.

“I used to watch him growing up, and he was an iconic player. When I came up against him. Probably one of the only times I have been in awe on a pitch.

“He was so clever. What I really liked was that he understood the way the next five minutes of the game were going. When he was talking to his teammates, you could see them listening to him; he had that aura about him.

Wayne Rooney and Paolo Maldini (Credit:Getty)

“Then his defending, his reading of the game, you think you have got past him, but he would position himself in a better position. He always positioned himself to let his teammates get back alongside him. He would wrap his legs around and nick the ball off you.”

In the same episode, Rooney was asked about who the sneakiest defender was, and his answer may surprise fans.

Rival defenders such as Terry, Jamie Carragher or Vincent Kompany may spring to mind, but it was a lesser-known player who Rooney dubbed the sneakiest.

“Do you remember [Roberto] Ayala?” Rooney asked. “We played a game against Argentina, and he was horrible. We played them in Switzerland, I was 18 or 19, and that was a real eye-opener of what to expect from some of these South American defenders. That was a real challenge.”

The game Rooney mentioned was England’s 3-2 win over Argentina back in November 2005, during which the then-United forward scored, with Owen bagging a brace.

Ayala enjoyed spells at Milan and Napoli but is best known for his seven-year stint at Valencia between 2000-07, during which he helped the La Liga side win two Spanish titles.