Jose Mourinho has explained that he was pleased with Wayne Rooney’s contribution after the forward came off the bench to help Manchester United beat Zorya Luhansk 1-0 in the Europa League on Thursday night.
Rooney, who was also dropped from the starting eleven in the 4-1 win over Leicester City last weekend, came on as a 67th minute substitute in place of Jesse Lingard, with the scores level at 0-0 at Old Trafford.
The England international made an immediate impact by providing the assist for Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s goal two minutes later which turned out to be the difference between the teams.
And Mourinho, who insisted that Rooney provided the presence in the box which Manchester United needed to break down Zorya Luhansk, was satisfied with the 30- year-old’s performance against the Ukrainian outfit.
"He was laughing and said he made a great assist”, the manager told MUTV.
relatedNewsStory
“He gave me what the team needed at the time, which was a second presence in the box. He's more of a striker than Juan [Mata], and Juan went more to the right-hand side [when Wayne came on].
“We started the game with a very good team, and I also had players on the bench to give me solutions for everything."
Rooney, who has come in for criticism for his lacklustre displays this season, has scored one goal and provided four assists in nine appearances in all competitions in the present campaign.
