Rooney stamps his name on an era

A favoured cliché of the Match Of The Day-style pundit is “goals change games” but strikes like Rooney’s on Saturday change seasons – even eras.

The Doomlords were still out in force at Old Trafford as late as the 77th minute. After all, a game that had been bossed by City for the first 40 minutes was, once again, appearing to get away from us; Rooney had been low-key and ineffective all afternoon; memories of the 2008 embarrassment were creeping into the frame of vision.

In less than two seconds, as though a solar explosion had intervened, all was brilliant light once more.