On this day in 2017, Wayne Rooney equalled Sir Bobby Charlton's Manchester United goal record in a comfortable 4-0 victory over Reading.

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Reading, flying high sat third in the Championship, headed to Old Trafford full of confidence as over 3,000 supporters made the early start to make Manchester for the 12.30pm kick-off.

Exceeding expectations under Manchester United legend Jaap Stam, some had hoped the Royals would give the Red Devils a good go.

However, it was not to be as Jose Mourinho's Premier League giants- themselves on a seven-match winning run- dominated from start to finish.

It took under 10 minutes for England captain Rooney to net his 249th goal for the club, equalling Charlton's record set in 1973.

The tie was almost put to bed within the opening 15 minutes as Anthony Martial doubled the hosts' lead in front of almost 75,000 spectators at the famous venue.

Despite having 18 shots, the Royals headed down the tunnel only two behind at the break, and it stayed that way until 15 minutes from time when a young Marcus Rashford came on the field.

In his first full season as a regular for his boyhood club, the forward struck twice in four minutes to add gloss to the score.

His second goal came gift-wrapped from goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi. A fan favourite and back-to-back Player of the Season winner as a Royal, the Oman legend was tackled in his own box for the fourth and final goal of the game.

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Reading would go on to finish third and reach Wembley come May, unfortunately missing out on promotion following a penalty shootout defeat to Huddersfield Town.

Mourinho and his side would lift the EFL Trophy in the spring but lose at the quarter-final stage to Chelsea in the FA Cup- finishing sixth in the Premier League.

It marked the start of three visits to Old Trafford in five years, Reading losing 2-0 in 2019 and 3-1 in 2022.