Wayne Rooney has revealed that he was glad Manchester United got to play against Chelsea and not Liverpool in the 2008 UEFA Champions League final in Moscow.
United reached a first Champions League final since their dramatic win against Bayern Munich at the Nou Camp in 1999, and landed their third title thanks to a penalty shootout win against Chelsea.
To get to the final United edged out Barcelona 1-0 on aggregate while Chelsea overcame Liverpool in a thrilling encounter in the semis.
Reflecting on the final, Liverpool-born Rooney, who began his career at Everton, said he “hated” going to Anfield when he played for United as the thought of losing the game was just horrible.
“Obviously you’re thinking if you win, how good it’s going to feel. And the same when we played Chelsea in the Champions League final – you win it, the feeling you get is incredible. But the thought of losing, at Anfield, emotionally it just got to me quite a lot of times,” Rooney said on his new podcast, The Wayne Rooney Show, aired on BBC.
“I was an Everton fan, didn’t like Liverpool from that. Then I went to United, didn’t like Liverpool from that. So beating Liverpool was such a good feeling,” he said.
“I think we could have got them in the [2008] Champions League final. It was Liverpool-Chelsea in the semi-final, so I was so glad it wasn’t Liverpool in the final. Liverpool in the Champions League final would have been too much, I think, for me.”
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Rooney remembered his United manager Sir Alex Ferguson telling him he would not play him at Goodison Park or Anfield.
“Alex Ferguson said many times he’s not playing me at Goodison or Anfield. He could see it in me. He knew, emotionally, going back to those two grounds – especially Anfield – was tough for me.”
Commenting on expectations on Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta this season Rooney said this it could be “now or never” and he will be “expected” to win silverware.
Arsenal were beaten 1-0 by Liverpool on Sunday as Dominik Szoboszlai scored a stunning free-kick.
“I think they’ve allowed him to bring a lot of players in, spend a lot of money. I imagine the board and certainly the fans will be expecting him to win the league. So I think it could be a big year for him.”
But the former England and Manchester United forward thinks Liverpool remain the favourites to win the Premier league this season.
“[Liverpool] are a very good team,” Rooney said. “They’ve got the know-how and the knowledge of winning the league twice over the last few years. It’s a sign of a good team when you’re winning games.”
Rooney added that he thought Arsenal should have shown more bravery at Anfield rather than setting up for games “to not lose them”.
“If they were just a little bit braver and went and actually took the game a bit more to Liverpool, I think they can go and win that,” he said.