A New Beginning

"Ronaldo takes on the defender...Cristiano Ronaldo with the shot oh what an amazing goal.." that was the voice of the commentator shouting on the mi as the Portuguese winger notched his 26 goal for the 2008/2009 season. This took his tally to 118 goals in 292 games. Speculation after speculation which rumored the Manchester United star to Real Madrid grew more, and then on the summer of 2009 the Portuguese captain finally passed his medical test and made his way to Real Madrid on a record breaking deal worth 80 million pounds. This made Cristiano Ronaldo the world’s most expensive football player overtaking former world player of the year Zinedine Zidane.

Despite losing their clubs top scorer, Manchester United's manager Sir Alex Ferguson was determine to prove pundits and bookies wrong who stated that Manchester United could not cope without their former world player of the year. During a press conference in Kuala Lumpur Ferguson described striker Wayne Rooney as the person who could make a difference and there was a new beginning in Manchester United's history. During previous season when Ronaldo was around, Rooney was known as the player who did the "dog job" and thus Rooney had always played more of an attacking midfielder when Ronaldo was around.

During Manchester United's pre-season games, United were described as a slow attacking team and they lacked speed which Ronaldo provided physically and mentally. Ferguson remained calmed and stressed out that Wayne Rooney would prove his worth.

Match pundits predicted that the first game in the Premier League, United would suffer a 1-1 draw with Birmingham City. The match ended 1-0 United with Rooney getting his name on the score sheet. Fans shouted "Wayne who...Wayne ROOOONEYY" during the next game against Wigan.Rooney scored two vital goals for United as they cruised to a 5-0 victory.

The clash of the Manchesters proved to be one of the most memorable games of the season. Manchester City a squad with wealth took on Manchester United a club with dept. Level after 90 minutes, a game where bookies fancied Manchester City. A superb pass by Wayne Rooney to Ryan Giggs who squared it to Michael Owen who scored an injury time goal to give United a 4-3 win over their arch rivals.

Since then Wayne Rooney has been notching in goal as if he was eating apple pie from McDonalds. His four goals demolition against Hull was the climax proving that there was life after Ronaldo and that Manchester United ambition towards their fourth successive Premier League was not just a dream but something possible to achieve. Wayne Rooney also came of the substitute bench in the League Cup Final against Aston Villa to head in United's winner.

Recently during a game against Bayern Munich in the Champions League Quarterfinal which Manchester United lost, a huge crowd in the Theatre of Dreams gave Wayne Rooney a standing ovation as the striker soldiered on for 40 minutes with a knee injury not wanting to come off so he could help his team.

With four more games to go till the 2009/2010 Premier League comes to close, Manchester United are in second place three points behind Chelsea and with Wayne Rooney being the Premier League top scorer scoring 26 goals in 29 games and scoring 8 goals outside the Premier League, this has really proved to be a new beginning to not only Manchester United but also to Wayne Rooney.