Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has played down Wayne Rooney’s petulant reaction to being substituted in the 1-0 Champions League win at Besiktas.
Rooney shook his head as he walked off and hurled one of his boots in disgust as he sat in the dug-out.
But Ferguson responded: “He is never pleased to come off. He has so much energy he wants to play all the time.
Ferguson said he had not seen Rooney lose his temper because he was watching the game but felt it was the right decision to replace him after a busy period for the striker in which he played in England’s games against Slovenia and Croatia.
“It was always in my thoughts to freshen up a bit in attack. Wayne had played as a lone striker for an hour and it was always going to be the case that he came off.”
Rooney was replaced by Michael Owen on 63 minutes, with the Group B game in Turkey still goalless. Paul Scholes eventually broke the deadlock to give United the win, scoring with a header on 77 minutes after the Besiktas keeper, Hakan Arikan, parried a fierce Nani shot.
“Nani was a bit unlucky not to score himself but Paul Scholes did what he does best,” stated Ferguson. “It was a typical Paul Scholes goal.”
Scholes was delighted to get on the scoresheet but admitted that United had not been at their best.
“You’d like to play a bit better than we did and create more chances but we haven’t done that,” he said. “We won the game and that’s all that matters.”
The United players had to contend with a Besiktas fan trying to upset their concentration by pointing a laser in their direction.
“It was in the first half, although thankfully the police did something about it,” explained Ferguson.
“They managed to get the culprit, which is good because I noticed it particularly on Jonny Evans. It seemed to be on him all the time.”
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