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19 April 2024

Man United’s Angel is a deadly Red Devil

Manchester United's Wayne Rooney scores a penalty against Queens Park Rangers during their English Premier League soccer match at Old Trafford in Manchester, northern England, April 8, 2012. (REUTERS)

Published
By Staff

Wayne Rooney is among the Premier League players with the least amount of bookings this season – one yellow card.

In fact he has had not a single booking in 28 games this season.

Wayne Rooney is not normally associated with being an angel.

From all the way back to him getting send off by a winking Cristiano Ronaldo, to swearing at a TV camera after scoring a hat-trick for Manchester United in a 4-2 win at West Ham (he missed  United’s FA Cup semifinal clash with Manchester City, which Sir Alex Ferguson’s side lost), Rooney was very much the Devil – red or otherwise.

And let’s not forget the bizarre straight red Rooney got for a bad-tempered kick against Montenegro, which will see him miss England’s opening two games at Euro 2012.

However, these latest statistics are remarkable for a player who until this season averaged 10 yellow cards a season.

The only caution Rooney has received this season came in United’s opening Champions League group game away to Benfica, last September.

Instead Rooney has been busy scoring goals, much to the delight of Sir Alex Ferguson - 32 in all competitions this season.

“I don’t think Wayne’s had many bookings, but as a team we haven’t had that many compared with others. And we’ve only had one sending-off – Jonny Evans,” Sir Alex said.

Apart from the three-game ban served by Evans following his red card against Manchester City in United’s 6-1 defeat October, Ferguson’s side have not had a player suspended this term.

Top scorers of the English Premier League on Tuesday

26 Robin van Persie (Arsenal)

22 Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

17 Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)

16 Yakubu Aiyegbeni (Blackburn Rovers)

Clint Dempsey (Fulham)

Demba Ba (Newcastle United)

13 Mario Balotelli (Manchester City)

Edin Dzeko (Manchester City)

Grant Holt (Norwich City)

Emmanuel Adebayor (Tottenham Hotspur)

11 Frank Lampard (Chelsea)

10 Daniel Sturridge (Chelsea)

Javier Hernandez (Manchester United)

Papiss Cisse (Newcastle United)

Danny Graham (Swansea City)

Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur)

Steven Fletcher (Wolverhampton Wanderers)

9 Darren Bent (Aston Villa)

Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur)

Rafael van der Vaart (Tottenham Hotspur)

Peter Crouch (Stoke City)

Peter Odemwingie (West Bromwich Albion)

8 Ivan Klasnic (Bolton Wanderers)

Luis Suarez (Liverpool)

Steve Morison (Norwich City)

Anthony Pilkington (Norwich City)

Heidar Helguson (Queens Park Rangers)