Part of my preparation is I go and ask the kit man what colour we're wearing - if it's red top, white shorts, white socks or black socks. Then I lie in bed the night before the game and visualise myself scoring goals or doing well.

On 7 November he scored his first UEFA Champions League goal of the season scoring a penalty in a 3–1 win against S. Stretford's case collapsed due to evidence that conflicted with his insistence that he had not signed Rooney and on 9 July 2008 he was found guilty of "making of false and/or misleading witness statements to police and giving false and/or misleading testimony. For the first goal he cut inside from the left and drilled in a low shot through the crowd of defenders.

The same year Rooney acquired the nickname "Wazza". He has won the England Player of the Year award twice in 2008 and 2009. Rooney is the third highest-paid footballer in the world after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo with an annual income of €20.