Wednesday 14 September 2016 18:54, UK
Wayne Rooney intends to quickly return to winning ways and then help cheer Anthony Crolla to victory in his forthcoming world lightweight title fight with Jorge Linares.
Crolla will defend his WBA lightweight title against three-weight world champion Linares in Manchester on September, live on Sky Sports, and was at Carrington on Wednesday to watch United train ahead of their Europa League tie with Feyenoord on Thursday evening.
Rooney, who will miss the game in the Netherlands, admits Jose Mourinho's side were upset with the 2-1 defeat to rivals City on Saturday, but insists the squad will quickly shake off the disappointment.
"We have to get over it. We have a game on Thursday night so it's important we focus on that now. Obviously, it's not nice losing a derby, but it's early days," he said.
"There are a lot of games left and we'll focus on tomorrow and then we've got a big game against Watford at the weekend so we have to move on.
"We've still started the season well. It was a disappointing result - that happens in football - but we have to bounce back and I'm sure we'll do that."
Asked if he would be in the crowd to watch Crolla defend his belt, Rooney added: "I hope so. We play Leicester at home and hopefully we get a good result and a few of the lads can go down and cheer Anthony on and try to make it a special night.
"Anthony knows it will be a tough fight. I'm sure he's prepared well, he's a great fighter, he's shown that the way he's bounced back in his last two fights, so I'm sure it will be the same again."
Crolla hopes the partisan home support, which helped him to exciting wins over Darleys Perez and Ismael Barroso, can again see him good against Linares.
"The Manchester crowd is like a 12th man in football terms," he said. "It will be an extra boost but I know what I've got to do on the night. It's a tough challenge but one that I'm up for and I'm confident."
