Rooney scored in injury time, Man Utd escaped defeat against Stoke

The captain proved his worth with a superb free kick to equalize 1-1 for Man Utd when the match entered the fourth minute of injury time.

Rooney rescued Man Utd as Stoke were on the verge of victory. Photo: Reuters.

Man Utd gave fans another emotional draw after drawing with Liverpool in the previous round. Stoke held the win until the fourth minute of injury time but a moment of brilliance from Rooney snatched a point for the visitors.

It has been a while since Rooney scored a spectacular goal, but it seems he saved his best for his 250th goal for the Red Devils. Starting from a free kick on the left wing, no one expected Rooney to decide to shoot straight with just over a minute left to play. However, the Man Utd captain made a bold decision and was rewarded with a spectacular goal that helped him take the position of the player with the most goals after a long time belonging to the legendary Bobby Charlton.

A second successive draw has kept Man Utd's spirits up but they are in danger of falling out of the top four. Man Utd are sixth on 41 points, three points behind fourth-placed Arsenal but have played a game more.

Meanwhile, the home team Stoke have the right to regret because they came very close to a third consecutive victory in the Premier League. The home team opened the scoring early thanks to an own goal from Juan Mata and played well in defense in the remaining minutes but could not predict the breakthrough coming from Rooney.

Stoke's usual aggressive play made Man Utd struggle. Photo: Reuters.

Man Utd extended their unbeaten run to 17 games in all competitions, but as manager Mourinho said before the match, only a win would matter. The unbeaten run continued, but two consecutive draws have caused Man Utd to suddenly stop just when they were closing in on the top group.

In the match against Stoke, Man Utd had good chances to quickly equalize, even bring home three points. However, on a day when the strikers were too unlucky, Man Utd could not penetrate the opponent's net before the extra time. Coach Mourinho's team pressed the opponent from the end of the first half to the end of the second half and had at least three situations where they could have scored clearly.

The most regrettable was Juan Mata's shot over the bar in front of an empty net. The Spanish midfielder was guilty of scoring an own goal but could not make up for his mistake. This was a teammate situation where Ibrahimovic played with his teammates but in the second confrontation, the Swedish striker still chose to pass to Mata. If he had been more decisive, Ibrahimovic could have brought home the equalizer in the first half.

Man Utd's crosses from both wings were ineffective against Stoke. Photo: Reuters.

Stoke's physical, aggressive play left Man Utd with few options. Man Utd made many high balls into the box, but Ibrahimovic and Fellaini were never comfortable finishing. Meanwhile, Pogba and Mkhitaryan, despite their efforts, could not dribble past a series of Stoke players covering for each other.

Towards the end of the match, coach Mourinho brought in three new attacking players and used the crossbar, in which Lingard hit the crossbar once before Rooney scored to make the score 1-1.

Man Utd will play the first leg of the League Cup semi-final at Hull in the middle of next week. This is an important match and Man Utd can end the draw against the opponent at the bottom of the Premier League.

According to VNE