Jose Mourinho has hailed Wayne Rooney as “a legend of Manchester United”, after his last-gasp equalizer against Stoke City on Saturday, saw him break the club’s goalscoring record.
The 31-year-old fired in a superb free-kick with seconds left in the game, to move onto 250 goals in 546 appearances, beating Sir Bobby Charlton’s record.
Mourinho praised his captain for writing his name in history books.
“The record is the record,” he told Sky Sports after the 1-1 draw.
“It is the record of the biggest club in England and one of the biggest in the world.
“Before him the record belonged to a legend of English football. Now Wayne becomes a legend of Manchester United.”
Stoke manager Mark Hughes, a former United player himself, says Rooney can now go on to set a record that may never be broken.
“It is an outstanding record and won’t be surpassed,” he told BBC Sport.
“It has taken 40-odd years for Sir Bobby’s record to be broken which shows how high a mark it was.”
Mourinho was however frustrated that his team did not take their chances, but credited the home side’s spirited performance.
He said: “It was a big game with two teams in the beginning trying to win,” he said. “But after 25 minutes one team tried to win and the other tried to defend, which they did amazingly well. They showed great work rate and did everything to try and stop us.
“We did everything well except in front of our target. We missed unbelievable chances. We hit the post, the keeper saves, we miss chances and we have another draw. We have too many draws for the attacking play we produce. Opposition goalkeepers are always amazing against us.”
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