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Wayne Rooney 'welcoming' Pep Guardiola to Premier League football in only meeting sums up his incredible mentality

Home> Football

Published 15:29 13 Jan 2023 GMT

Wayne Rooney 'welcoming' Pep Guardiola to Premier League football in only meeting sums up his incredible mentality

Rooney and Guardiola faced off once in English football.

Daniel Marland

Daniel Marland

Footage of Wayne Rooney and Pep Guardiola's only interaction during a Manchester derby has emerged ahead of Saturday's mammoth clash.

Manchester United welcome Manchester City to Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon for what could be the most competitive game between the two sides in years.

United looked to be getting back to their best under Erik ten Hag, while Guardiola's City side were eliminated from the League Cup at the hands of Southampton on Wednesday evening.

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Guardiola's record against United has been mixed since arriving at the Etihad Stadium. He's beaten the Red Devils eight times, with the first coming in his first game against them in September 2016.

The Spaniard took over City at the same time longtime foe Jose Mourinho took the United hot seat. Both United and City were miles off a Premier League title charge at that point, truly on the same level after Leicester City's historic win.

City managed to come out on top with a 2-1 win thanks to goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Kelechi Iheanacho in the first half.

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United halved the deficit just before halftime with Zlatan Ibrahimovic's acrobatic effort, giving the home side all the motivation in the world to go for it after the break.

Nobody summed it up more than Wayne Rooney. In what could be his final season as a United player, Rooney adopted a leadership role as Ibrahimovic, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford carried the load in attack.

The England legend had faced Guardiola during his time as Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager, speaking fondly of his talents. All that goes out the window on derby day.


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Guardiola saw the ball go out of play and picked it up to give to a United player during the first half.

An eager Rooney ran over to the ex-midfielder and grabbed him. He gave Guardiola a slight shove, which left him in a panic.

Guardiola tried to calm Rooney down by grabbing his arm, but the United captain was more concerned about getting the game going again.

City managed to win the game and it ended up being the last time Rooney faced United's fiercest rivals in a red shirt.

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Rooney and Guardiola during the game. (Image
Alamy)

There was still a mutual respect between the duo. Back in 2014, Guardiola called Rooney one of the best players he'd ever seen.

When told he'd be missing from a Champions League clash against Bayern Munich, Guardiola remarked: "He is going to play. One hundred per cent. He is going to play. I bet you a big, big glass of beer. I believe he is going to play, and [Antonio] Valencia too.

"Rooney is going to play. He is a big player, one of the best players I've ever seen in my career."

Featured Image Credit: Premier League

Topics: Wayne Rooney, Pep Guardiola, Manchester United, Manchester City, Premier League

Daniel Marland
Daniel Marland

Daniel is a social editor for SPORTbible after moving from the writing team. Nearly scored past Stormzy at Old Trafford once.

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@DanMarland_

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