Wayne Rooney admits he wore longer studs to ‘hurt’ Chelsea star in 2006 title clash

Rob McCarthy 06 Feb 2022 12:30 PM

Wayne Rooney has revealed that he wore longer studs for Manchester United’s Premier League title clash with Chelsea back in 2006 so that he could ‘hurt’ an opposition star.

The Stamford Bridge clash was a must-win for Sir Alex Ferguson’s men in order to keep their title hopes alive. They were nine points adrift at the time and needed a minor miracle to overhaul Jose Mourinho’s side with three games to go.

And Rooney admits he ‘couldn’t take’ the idea of watching his rivals clinch the title at their home ground.

For that reason, he decided to wear longer studs than normal to inflict more damage.

“I changed my studs before the game,” Rooney revealed in the upcoming documentary ‘Rooney’, which will be released on Amazon Prime on Friday.

“I put longer studs in because I wanted to hurt someone.”

England teammate John Terry ended up on the receiving end of a nasty challenge from Rooney. The Red Devils forward stamped on the Chelsea skipper’s foot in an ill-tempered clash.

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“If Chelsea won a point, they won the league,” Rooney added. “At that time, I couldn’t take it.

“The studs were legal, they were a legal size. But they were bigger than what I would normally wear.”

Double Bridge blow for Rooney

Rooney’s concerns were justified, however, as Chelsea won 3-0 to clinch the Premier League crown.

Ironically it was Rooney who ended up injuring himself later in the game. He suffered a metatarsal injury which nearly ruled him out of the World Cup just a few months later.

Rooney missed the start of the tournament before England eventually lost to Portugal at the quarter-final stage, a game in which he famously saw red.

Manchester United Wayne Rooney