Sport 29-09-2004 Greatest Ever Debut For Rooney who: Manchester United what: Beat Fenerbahçe 6-2 in Champions` League Group D where: Old Trafford, MANCHESTER when: Last night snippet: "Wayne Rooney was in dreamland last night after scoring a stunning hat-trick on his debut for Manchester United," says The Mirror from the scene of a comprehensive 6-2 Champions` League defeat over visiting Fenerbahçe. "England superstar Rooney set Old Trafford alight and made an impact not even Sir Alex Ferguson could have imagined. Rooney opened his account on 17 minutes with a a blistering left-foot shot to put United 2-0 up after Ryan Giggs` opener." "In the 28th minute he took a short pass from Giggs and, without even touching the ball, suckered skipper Umit Ozat into committing himself," says The Sun`s Shaun Custis, veritably dizzy with excitement. "With the defender out of the way, Rooney crashed home a low 25-yard drive." "Fenerbahce regained some confidence when the Brazilian Nobre pounced at a corner, reacting first to a loose ball which he stabbed past Roy Carroll," says Henry Winter in The Telegraph. "Rooney promptly restored United`s three-goal cushion with a neat free-kick, after Van Nistelrooy had been fouled by Fabio Luciano." Oliver Kay marks the occasion by looking back on other memorable hat-trick debuts, including Alan Shearer (Southampton, 1988), Tony Cottee (Everton, 1998) and Joe Royle, who "scored four goals on his debut for Bristol City against Middlesbrough in the old first division on November 26, 1977". Elsewhere, Liverpool lost 1-0 to Olympiakos in Group A. Manager Rafael Benítez was proved right after he predicted that 32-year-old No.5 Rivaldo would be the Greeks` danger man - he took the 35 yard free kick that Ieroklis Stoltidis headed in for the winning goal. And Wayne Rooney would have been in the news indirectly anyway, because alleged blackmailer John Hyland appeared at Warrington Crown Court yesterday accused of conspiring to extort a quarter of a million pounds from Rooney`s agent, Paul Stretford. [... more]

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