“Instinctive and Unstoppable, there’s no better volleyer in the game”

When I was younger, my best friend, his brother and I all used to get the Man United season review on video. We watched it so much that we’d memorise the commentary as well as the goals scored.

I remember in the 1989/90 season against Man City Mark Hughes scored a spectacular volley for United. The ball was crossed from the right by Russell Beardsmore and Hughesie, at the edge of the 6-yard box at the back post, executed a sort of sideways-on bicycle kick with his right foot that saw the ball smashed into the opposite corner of the net in spectacular fashion. United still lost 5-1.



Did you get a receipt with that hair cut? 

It was hit with the same power that was the Mark Hughes staple, but this goal was executed in such acrobatic, almost gravity defying style that made it all the more special. At school, everyone wanted to score the same goal, I used to go to afternoon lessons with skids all over my trousers (not those kinds of skids….!) having been diving all over the pitch trying to nail a Hughesie-esq volley at lunchtime.

As soon as I saw Rooney’s goal on Saturday, I thought of Hughes’s strike all those years ago – the man that used to make spectacular, acrobatic volleying look like child’s play would certainly approve of Rooney’s goal on Saturday.

Football is so intriguing because it has the ability to throw up such amazing and memorable moments. Sometimes the absurd and ridiculous too, but on Saturday we saw something truly exceptional. I’ve read on forums fans claiming it was a lucky strike and it was a shin roller and so on.

Absolute rubbish!

To even attempt a strike like this, to even react to the deflection off the defender and to still be in a position to get a shot in was good; To then volley the ball, with pace and power, from behind and above you directly into the corner of the goal, bypassing the goalkeeper as though he was a statue stuck to the spot shows superb technique, an appreciation of where the goal is, and improvisation of the highest order, that only the top, top players in football possess.



Rooney's goal against City in 78th minute won the derby for United

Whether it was the best ever or not, well, even Sir Alex is allowed to get carried away from time to time isn’t he? He is also a supreme man-manager and I wonder if he used the goal as an opportunity to heap praise onto Rooney in a bid to get him properly firing for the remainder of the season, because United’s push for honours would be boosted massively by the return to form of Rooney, and this goal may just be the catalyst for that.

Rooney’s goal, and the juxtaposition of it in the game itself and the Championship more significantly would have made it a huge goal even if it had been a tap-in from 5 yards.

The Manchester derby; the closest there has been at Old Trafford for years and in which City had genuine chances to win, was settled by this goal. Moreover, City’s chances of winning the title were effectively ended by this goal, and finally United, having fluffed their lines, and their unbeaten run, the week before, needed to get back to winning ways, and did so because of this goal. Titles are won and lost over less – Rooney’s goal could be the pivotal moment in the race this year.

Goals like Hughes’s live long in the memory for the sheer skill level required. It’s less common to find a goal of such skill and contextual importance as well. Rooney’s goal on Saturday had both, and for that reason it will be remembered for a very long time.