Wayne Rooney: I want to stay at United

Old Trafford Whisperer
May 11, 2017
2 min read

Wayne Rooney joined Jose Mourinho in the pre-match press conference yesterday and gave his view on tonight's game against Celta Vigo.

Having played the entirety of the match at the Emirates, many expect the captain to drop back to the bench tonight, despite scoring against Burnley and Swansea City last month.

He however remains committed to United and reiterated that his sole focus right now is to help the team beat Celta Vigo and go on to lift the Europa League.

"It's a massive chance to get to the final," he told reporters.

"I think it's been a long, hard competition this season. We deserve to be here and it's an opportunity for us to win a trophy, so it's a huge chance for us.

"It's important for us to be back in the Champions League, of course. It's something we all want and I think this club belongs there. Realistically, it's going to be difficult to do it through the league so this is the chance for us to do it but also to win a trophy.

"First of all we have to concentrate on trying to win the trophy and take what comes with it, which of course is qualifying for the Champions League.

"This is a semi-final, a European semi-final, and it's the biggest competition we've realistically had of winning over the last two or three years," he added.

"So, we're taking it really seriously, we want to win it. We're in a good position, but it's not over. Nevertheless, we feel we've got a good chance of going through to the final if we play to our best."

United have only the Europa League to win this season having already won the EFL Cup and the Community Shield.

When a journalist posed the question concerning Rooney's future, the skipper was quick to answer.

"Would I like to stay? I've been at this club 13 years. Of course. I want to play football.

United hasn't lost or failed to score in a home European semifinal in 20 years.

"I think football changes and you have different periods and challenges in your career and this season, of course, I've not played as much as I'd liked to have played.

"I would like to play more but that's the way it's panned out and I've tried to help the team off the pitch, on the pitch, and tried to help us win.

"I've not thrown my toys out of the pram, I've not made a big fuss about it but, of course, I'm a football player and I want to play football. The more I can play, obviously the better for me and the more I feel I can help the team."

Rooney will be hoping to help his team maintain our proud record in European semifinals, we have only lost once in 15 appearances and that loss came in 1997 against Borussia Dortmund who went on to lift the title that season.

That was also the only time we failed to score in a European semifinal as we lost 1-0. So you can bank on United scoring and going on to win the game tonight!