Manchester United vs Reading: Wayne Rooney targets record against old nemesis Liverpool

Wayne Rooney raised the prospect of beating Manchester United’s all-time goal-scoring record against his old adversaries Liverpool, after equalling Sir Bobby Charlton’s record 249 goals in the dismantling of Reading.

Rooney looked slimmer and fitter as he was the supreme achiever in the United side which won 4-0 and he volunteered the idea of moving onto 250 goals in one the club’s two games next week, with Hull City arriving for a League Cup semi-final first leg on Tuesday and Liverpool next Sunday. Manager Jose Mourinho hinted that Rooney will not play against Hull, as he rings the changes.

“We’ve got two home games coming up so hopefully I can get the next one in one of those games,” Rooney said. “Hopefully I will be up there on my own. I’m very happy and honoured to be able to play for this club and to be up there with Sir Bobby. Very proud.

“I’m enjoying my football. It’s a huge part of my life, this football club, and I’m very honoured to be there alongside Sir Bobby. Of course you want to do records.”

Mourinho - who revealed that withdrawn Marcos Rojo has a muscle injury but would not say whether it was “first degree or second degree” – said Rooney would soon break the record.

“I think the best day will arrive [for him],” he said. “It’s a question of when. Everyone knows what Sir Bobby is and what he means for the history of the club, and for Wayne to score the same number of goals for Manchester United is amazing.”

Rooney said that as a boy he had not dreamt of such a landmark. “No, of course you don’t think that far ahead. But I’ve been at this cub for a long time. It’s a proud moment for me at such a massive club as Manchester United.”

It was a disastrous homecoming for Jaap Stam, in his first competitive match at Old Trafford since leaving the club in 2001. But despite his strategy looking defensively naive at times, he pointed to West Ham’s humbling 5-0 home defeat to Manchester city on Friday night as evidence of how throwing an extra man behind the ball is no guarantee against embarrassment.

“Yesterday a team (West Ham) dropped in an extra man but lose by a number of goals as well. We always want to play football and against a team like United have nothing to lose. You could say is it right, is it wrong?

“I’m always learning. Being a manager and a player is a totally different job. You need to learn how to stand in front of group. It sounds easy being a manger if you’ve played at a top level but no.”

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He insisted that the game was a “great experience” for his players. “It’s not always an experience when you are winning games but when you are losing them. From being 18th, 19th in the league [last season] to being third, wanting to play a certain kind of football and growing a club, if you get a chance to play against a side like this a top side in Europe, it’s quite a good difference.”

But he admitted that Reading had fatally allowed United’s forwards space in the first 15 minutes. “You can’t give them too much space. We spoke about it, [but] in first 15 minutes we were a bit easy going.”