Rooney breaks 45-year-old England scoring record

Wayne Rooney broke Bobby Charlton's 45-year-old England scoring record on Tuesday when he netted his 50th international goal in a 2016 European Championship qualifier at home to Switzerland.

The England captain slammed a penalty into the top-left corner in the 84th minute at Wembley Stadium to put Roy Hodgson's side 2-0 up after Harry Kane had opened the scoring.

Rooney's goal took the 29-year-old Manchester United striker past Charlton's mark, which had stood since May 1970, and made him the first England player to score a half-century of goals.

It came on his 107th appearance for his country, which is one more than Charlton achieved during a storied international career that took in England's triumph on home soil at the 1966 World Cup.

Rooney pointed to the sky in celebration and appeared to wipe away tears after being granted a standing ovation by the majority of the 75,751 fans in attendance.

He had equalled Charlton's record, and moved a goal ahead of Gary Lineker, by opening the scoring from the penalty spot in England's 6-0 win in San Marino on Saturday, which secured their place at Euro 2016.

The former Everton striker is also closing in on Charlton's United scoring record and requires 17 goals to surpass the former midfielder's tally of 249.

But he is currently struggling for goals at club level. Despite a hat-trick in a recent Champions League play-off win away to Belgian side Club Brugge, Rooney has not scored a league goal since April.

FACTBOX

Born: Oct. 24, 1985 in Liverpool. 

CLUB CAREER

After coming through Everton's youth academy, Rooney made his first-team debut as a 16-year-old against Tottenham Hotspur in August 2002.

He scored his first Premier League goal for Everton on Oct.19 with a last minute match-winner against Arsenal, five days before his 17th birthday. 

Manchester United signed the 18-year-old for 25.6 million pounds  ($39.42 million) in August 2004. 

He made his United debut on Sept.28 scoring a hat-trick in a 6-2 home win over Fenerbahce in the Champions League to become the youngest player to score a hat-trick in the competition, aged 18 years 335 days.

Rooney has won five Premier League titles, two League Cups and one Champions League with United.

He was England's Footballer of the Year in 2010. 

Rooney was handed a five-year contract by David Moyes in February 2014 and given the captain's armband after Louis van Gaal took charge at Old Trafford ahead of the 2014-15 season. 

Rooney is third on United's record all-time scoring list with 233 goals in 485 appearances. He is 16 behind Bobby Charlton's record of 249. 

ENGLAND

Made his debut aged 17 years 111 days on Feb.12 2003, coming on as a halftime substitute in a 3-1 defeat to Australia at Upton Park to become England's then-youngest ever player, breaking a record that had stood since 1879.

Scored his first senior international goal in his sixth international on Sept.6 2003 against Macedonia in Skopje in England's 2-1 Euro 2004 qualifying win to become the country's youngest scorer at 17 years 317 days. 

Rooney scored four times in the Euro 2004 finals before England bowed out in the quarter-finals to Portugal.  Almost missed the 2006 World Cup finals after suffering a foot injury two months before the tournament. 

Despite recovering in time, Rooney looked far from his best and failed to score against Trinidad & Tobago and Sweden before his tournament ended in misery after being sent off in the quarter-final defeat by Portugal. 

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