Wayne Rooney reveals ‘weird’ thought process that led to iconic Manchester derby overhead kick goal

Wayne Rooney has described the “striker’s instinct” he experienced as he prepared to score one of the Manchester derby’s most iconic goals.

Manchester United beat Manchester City in February 2011 with a late overhead kick from the striker.

Ahead of today’s showdown between the teams at Etihad Stadium, Rooney has detailed his amusement at the moment given his “terrible” performance on the day.

“It’s hard to explain, and sounds weird when I describe it, but in that split second when the ball hung in the air every different option went through my mind,” he wrote for The Times.

“Do I control it? Where are the defenders? Do I head it? Do I try the overhead kick? In those moments, the decision tends to come to you naturally. Call it striker’s instinct.

“I realised I couldn’t quite head it and that if I tried bringing the ball under control, either [Micah] Richards or [Vincent] Kompany would have got to me. If I was going to get a shot at goal first time, then going for the overhead kick was the only option. The ball was in the perfect place and I just thought: ‘Why not?’.

“I had tried the skill before in games, without it coming off, but this time I caught the ball perfectly and, in mid-air, knowing the contact was good, tried to spin my head round to see where it was going. I managed to fix my eyes on the ball literally at the moment it was going in. Joe Hart didn’t move. It had all happened so quickly.

“Sir Alex Ferguson said that he had never seen a goal like it and it proved the match-winner. People have photos of it on their walls, it was voted Manchester United’s goal of the decade. The funny thing is, I was terrible in the game.”