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Rooney: My neck wouldn't fit in the top!

Transcript

“The ripped shirt is an easy one to answer,” laughs Wayne, recalling his customised kit in 2004...

Transcript

 “The ripped shirt is an easy one,” laughs Rooney. “I had been injured for two-and-a-half months, so I had done a lot of work in the gym and my neck wouldn't fit in the top! [laughs] That’s all that was. It fitted in but it was really tight, so I just ripped it to make sure I was comfortable. 

“I remember the build-up to the game. I think it was Middlesbrough in the game before and I remember pestering the manager, saying ‘I am fine’ and ‘let me play’, or ‘let me be on the bench’. I think he was going to put me on the bench and then he said, ‘do you know what, leave this game, get another couple of days of training in and I am going to start you in the Champions League’. 

“So I was like, 'fine'. I trained and then obviously the game came. I was just so excited to be playing football again. I hadn't played, obviously, since the Euros and to be stood in the tunnel, I could feel the anticipation from the crowd and I knew it was a big night for me. 

“As I said before, being a scouser playing for Man United, I knew I had to win the fans over because if it didn’t go well then I was probably a player who would get less time than maybe somebody else because of that. But I never thought my first game would end up the way it did.”

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