After netting his 49th England goal, Wayne Rooney spoke of his pride at sharing the record with Bobby Charlton.
England captain Wayne Rooney has described his pride at equalling Bobby Charlton’s goalscoring record and set his sights on surpassing the marker at Wembley on Tuesday.
Rooney netted his 49th international goal by opening the scoring in Saturday’s 6-0 win in San Marino, which saw England become the first time to qualify for Euro 2016.
He was unable to take sole ownership of the record before being substituted just short of the hour mark, but is hopeful of achieving the feat against Switzerland at Wembley.
“It’s a proud moment for me to equal Sir Bobby’s record and my aim is to push on and help the team win on Tuesday, beat the record and become out-and-out record holder,” he said.
“It would have been great if it happened tonight but, the tradition of Wembley and to break the record at Wembley would be brilliant. Since I joined United at 18, he’s been in the dressing room after all the games and he’s got a presence about him.
“He speaks to all the players and he’s given me advice.”
Rooney’s 49th goal came on the occasion of his 106th cap – matching Charlton’s total haul of England appearances.
“It’s a crazy game and it’s one of those things,” Rooney continued. “Hopefully my 107th game will be my 50th goal.” But, I’d swap all those goals for a winners’ medal next summer.”
Explaining his decision to replace Rooney with Harry Kane, who went on to score, manager Roy Hodgson added: “We wanted to protect one or two players and it was really in our thoughts all along that we would keep Wayne on for a maximum of 60 minutes.”
