‘Perfect’ Rooney deserves more respect, says Ibrahimovic

The strike also moved him to within just one of Bobby Charlton’s overall club goalscoring record, answering his critics after the emergence of images appearing to show him drunk while on global duty with England.

Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney, left, celebrates with teammate Manchester United’s Paul Pogba after scoring the opening goal of the game during the Europa League group A soccer match between Manchester United and Feyenoord a.

And speaking after the Group A clash, Ibrahimovic, who assisted Rooney’s opener, singled out the England skipper for special praise.

Jose Mourinho has explained why Henrikh Mkhitaryan started for Manchester United against Feyenoord.

The goal came during a period where the England captain has been under the microscope after pictures emerged of the 31-year-old appearing intoxicated in the team hotel during the last global break.

Rooney was reported by The Sun to have been up until the early hours at a wedding in The Grove hotel following England’s 3-0 victory against Scotland, leading the forward to “unreservedly” apologise to interim boss Gareth Southgate, the Football Association and young fans.

Juan Mata scored in consecutive games for Manchester United for the first time since September 2015.

“People like Zlatan [Ibrahimovic], like Rooney, whose happiness depends on the goals they score, they need that”.

Nonetheless, it won’t be easy for United on Thursday, as Feyenoord have lost just three times in all competitions this season, and won 10 of their last 15 games.

“It’s been hard for him but it’s water off a duck’s back for him, he’s dealt with it throughout his career”, he said.

“He’s dealt with that throughout his career”. A particularly nice exchange of passes with Wayne Rooney in the ninth minute ended with him just unable to latch on to the captain’s through-ball, and he showed plenty of other neat touches thereafter.

United striker Ibrahimovic, who teed up Rooney for his goal last night, said: “I think when you’re famous like that, people are interested, they want to know everything”.

“I’m buzzing for him”, he said. They are friends, they are colleagues, they work together every day, but at the end they compete between themselves to have more chances to play. He was all over the final third of the pitch, on the flanks, through the middle, playing some great one-two’s with his teammates. “I hope he scores in the first minute on Sunday!”