Wayne Rooney proud to become Manchester United's record scorer
Sunday 22 January 2017 09:53, UK
Wayne Rooney was "proud and delighted" to become Manchester United's record scorer after moving onto 250 goals with an injury-time equaliser at Stoke on Saturday.
Rooney had been tied on 249 goals with Sir Bobby Charlton, who has held the record since 1973, after scoring against Reading in the FA Cup two weeks ago.
In the fourth minute of injury time at the bet365 Stadium, the 31-year-old curled home a free-kick to earn United a 1-1 draw in the Premier League.
The England captain, in his 13th season at United, told Sky Sports: "It's a great honour - I'm very proud. It's difficult at the minute to be over-pleased because of the result - two points dropped.
"But in the grand scheme of things, it's a great honour. It's something I never expected when I joined the club. But I'm delighted and I'm very proud.
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"It's been great - we've been very successful and there's more to come. I'm proud to play for this club and to be the all-time top scorer is a huge honour and is something that will live with me for the rest of my life."
United boss Jose Mourinho said: "It's the record of the biggest club in England and one of the biggest in the world.
"It's a record that belonged, before him, to an amazing legend of English football so Wayne becomes definitely a legend at Manchester United."
England's 1966 World Cup star Charlton told United's website: "It's over 40 years since I scored the last of my 249 goals for Manchester United, so I must admit that I have become used to the honour of being the club's all-time top goalscorer!
"We have had some incredible strikers here at Old Trafford and they have scored a lot of goals, but it has been fairly obvious for a while now that Wayne Rooney was going to be the one likeliest to break my record, and now that day has come, I would be lying to say that I'm not disappointed to have lost the record. However, I can honestly say that I'm delighted for Wayne. He deserves his place in the history books.
"He is a true great for club and country, and it is fitting that he is now the highest goalscorer for both United and England. It has been great to watch him every week since his arrival at Old Trafford in 2004; he set the tone with a wonderful hat-trick on his debut and he has thrilled us all in the years since, going on to enjoy a hugely successful career.
"I was 35 when I retired. Wayne is only 31 and still going strong, so I don't think he's done by a long stretch yet."
Former United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, who bought Rooney from Everton, added: "It is no mean feat to score so many goals and he breaks a record that has stood for over 40 years.
"Wayne thoroughly deserves his place in the history books of this great club and I am sure that he will go on to score many more goals."
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