Football news - Wayne Rooney enjoys reminder that his Manchester United legacy is secure

Rooney caught it perfectly, but Romero got across to put it behind for a corner. The travelling United fans bellowed Rooney’s name, as they had done for most of the evening. He has returned to play against United before since he left Old Trafford; at 34 and now marooned in the Championship, he may well have just done so for the last time.

They’d seen the mechanics behind such a free-kick before; just over three years ago he parked one from a similarly wide angle into the top far corner to salvage a draw for United at Stoke City, racking up his 250th Manchester United goal and breaking Bobby Charlton’s all-time goalscoring record for the club in the process. Yet despite that feat, and who he had to surpass to achieve it, there has been doubt amongst some that Rooney is not quite as revered by United supporters as he should be.

On the face of it, that seems faintly ridiculous; Rooney’s greatest hits for United is an astonishing collection, so catchily familiar that the fans can recognise them from just a few bars. That debut hat-trick. That volley against Middlesbrough. That volley against Newcastle. That chip over David James. That badge kiss at Goodison Park. That curler to win the Club World Cup. That sorting of AC Milan. That winner in the League Cup final. That overhead kick. That hat-trick against West Ham, and that swearing to the camera. That penalty to win the 19th league title. And, again, that free kick that broke the scoring record.

Yet one thing always seems to have held back the blanket adoration of Rooney - that attempt to transfer out of United in 2010. When Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez were ushered out of Old Trafford and not replaced with anything close to the same quality in the years that followed, Rooney did the unthinkable and openly questioned the direction and policies of Alex Ferguson and the club. Terse statements were issued by both sides and after a tense stand-off that blew up over a couple of days but seemed to last an eternity, Rooney changed his mind. He quickly strolled back across the burning bridge to sign an enormous new contract.

All was forgiven but evidently not forgotten. Rooney returned to a mixed reception. When Ferguson himself left the club in 2013, he exacted maximum revenge on Rooney and his agent Paul Stretford by stating that the player had again indicated his desire to leave the club. You do not court trouble with that man and walk away unscathed. Ferguson had dropped Rooney for a Champions League match with Real Madrid months earlier, finally losing faith in a player who had been in slow decline since an injury just prior to the end of the 2009-10 season.

Ferguson had essentially paved the way for Rooney to leave Old Trafford, but his successor David Moyes didn’t follow it through. Rooney then stuck with United through the painful post-Ferguson years before eventually returning to Everton in 2017 after being deemed surplus to requirements by Jose Mourinho. That Rooney’s United career faded so slowly to such a conclusion seems to jar with the explosive impact he made after signing for the club as an 18-year old.

George Best, another outrageously gifted United prodigy that saw his career at Old Trafford peter out amid controversy, personal troubles and clashes with managers, once said that when all was said and done he hoped that people would remember him for the football. Where Rooney is concerned, at Pride Park it seems that the United fans intended to do just that.