20 November 2023 , 21:00
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Jose Mourinho leapt to Wayne Rooney 's defence after the Manchester United legend confessed to wanting "to hurt" Chelsea players.
Rooney, 38, has admitted he wore longer studs than usual as United travelled to Stamford Bridge in 2006 knowing only victory would prevent the Blues from winning the Premier League. Mourinho was managing Chelsea at the time and led them to a 3-0 win over the Red Devils to make it back-to-back league titles.
Rooney was in his second season with United and his frustrations at the title race slipping away led him to pursue drastic measures ahead of the match. He reflected on deviating from his regular studs in the Amazon Prime documentary, 'Rooney', which airs on Channel 4 on Monday.
"I changed my studs before the game," Rooney recalled. "I put longer studs in because I wanted to hurt someone." England's record goalscorer added: "If Chelsea won a point, they won the league.
"At the time, I couldn't take it. The studs were legal, they were a legal size, but they were bigger than what I would normally wear."
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Mourinho is among those to discuss Rooney's glittering career in the documentary, having spent one season managing the player while at United. It would be understandable for the Portuguese to take offence at Rooney admitting he was out to hurt his former Chelsea players.
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Wayne Rooney wore longer studs than usual for the bitter Premier League encounter (Getty Images)Remarkably, however, Mourinho insisted he can empathise with the anger which led to the decision to wear the longer studs. The former Real Madrid boss said: "Probably some people will say, 'Wow, that's not a very nice thing to do, to feel or to say.'
"But for football people like me we look at it from a different perspective. He's just a young guy who is upset and frustrated, and who doesn't accept to lose a title for the second time [in a row], which for me means a lot in relation to the character."
Rooney ultimately claimed revenge the following season by scoring 14 goals as United wrestled the Premier League title back from Chelsea. Mourinho's side finished second and won the FA Cup -League Cup double, but he would only last a few more months before his sacking in September 2007.
Rooney went on to claim a further four league titles during his 13-year stint at Old Trafford before returning to boyhood club Everton in 2017. He retired from playing during the 2020-21 season in order to become Derby County manager on a permanent basis, while Mourinho is back in Serie A with Roma, with whom he won the Europa Conference League in 2022.