United have won the FA Cup 11 times in their history, first in 1908-09 and most recently in 2003-04, but Rooney has never lifted the trophy himself.
He moved to United from Everton in the summer of 2004, missing out on that year’s success, while he has twice been on the losing side in finals, against Arsenal in 2005 and Chelsea in 2007. The Gunners were victorious on penalties while the Blues won through Didier Drogba’s extra-time goal.
Rooney, who grew up as an Everton supporter, reflected on his childhood memories of the Toffees’ FA Cup success and called for the team to deliver the same experience to today’s supporters. “We have an FA Cup quarter-final against Arsenal on Monday that is massive for us,” the skipper acknowledged. “We haven’t been to a final for a few years. We want to try to win that game and we are looking forward to that.
“Of course, I think it is a massive trophy,” Rooney continued. “It is a trophy that, growing up as a youngster, I used to love watching and I was fortunate enough to see Everton lift the FA Cup in 1995 when I was nine-years-old. It is something which I would love to do and hopefully it can be this year.”
Everton beat United in that final, 20 years ago, by virtue of Paul Rideout’s first-half goal, the striker converting after fellow forward Graham Stuart struck the crossbar.
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