Wayne Rooney is synonymous with Everton and Manchester United and he couldn’t contain his glee at seeing their bitter rivals Liverpool suffer another disappointing result this season.
Liverpool have been below-par compared to their lofty standards and that came to the fore once more on Tuesday night as they lost 1-0 at Galatasaray in their Champions League last-16 first-leg tie.
The fixture in Istanbul was a 5.45pm (GMT) kick-off with the remaining three other ties – Atalanta vs Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid vs Tottenham and Newcastle vs Barcelona – all kicking off at 8pm.
Rooney was working as a pundit for Amazon Prime for the latter encounter and his happiness was visible when presenter Gabby Logan revealed the scoreline from Turkey during the build-up to Newcastle’s clash.
Upon learning of Liverpool’s loss, Rooney can be seen smiling and nodding before taking a look at his fellow pundits Les Ferdinand and Daniel Sturridge – with the latter having played for the Reds.
Logan asked Sturridge for his reaction to that result to which he replied: ‘That’s a surprise, isn’t it!?’. However, before he could expand further Rooney cheekily interjected with: ‘Is it?’
Wayne Rooney couldn’t contain to his smile upon hearing Liverpool lost 1-0 at Galatasaray
He learned of the result while as a pundit for Amazon Prime ahead of Newcastle vs Barcelona
Liverpool lost the first leg of their Champions League last-16 first leg on Tuesday night
‘Really? Really, Wazza?’ Sturridge asked with he and his colleagues all laughing. ‘This is what I’m saying, we’re here to do a job tonight and you’re already putting daggers in!’
Rooney struggled to contain himself as he insisted: ‘I’m not!’, before Sturridge admitted: ‘Disappointing result for Liverpool obviously but there’s another leg.’
Rooney’s views on Liverpool have previously irked the club this season – although later backtracking – after criticising Virgil van Dijk’s attitude and being blasted for ‘lazy’ punditry by the Liverpool captain.
In November, the England legend has admitted he was wrong for insinuating that a new £400,000-a-week deal, which he signed last April, led to him ‘downing tools’.
Responding to Rooney’s accusation that his and Mohamed Salah’s ‘body language’ has changed since they penned new deals, Van Dijk said: ‘I didn’t hear him last year.
‘It doesn’t hurt me. Just to come back to this particular player, obviously a legend, a big player of the game who inspired so many, I can say only positive things but I feel that comment is just I would say it’s a bit of a lazy criticism.
‘It’s easy to blame the other players but he knows we do it together, trying to help each and every one of us to try to get out of this. Last year when things go well you don’t hear that at all. It is what it is.
‘[Pundits] have to do that job. He has an opinion and we have to deal with it. There’s no hard feelings. I don’t take it personally.’
Van Dijk and Rooney came face-to-face in a tense moment on TNT Sports after Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Real Madrid in November.
‘If you lose games as a Liverpool player, four or five in a row, it’s a fair criticism, but I think its over the top at times as well. But that’s because we live in a world where there’s so many platforms, so many people can say stuff and will be picked up and made bigger,’ Van Dijk said, seemingly in a nod to Rooney’s punditry.
And the Manchester United legend replied: ‘I’m not saying anything any more, I think I’ve spurred them on and put them on a winning streak!’
That came off the back of Rooney saying on his BBC podcast in October: ‘Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, they’ve signed new deals but I don’t think they’ve really led that team this season.
‘I think body language tells you a lot, and I think we’re seeing slightly different body language from the two of them. They are the top two players in that team and if their body language is not right, that affects everyone else. I might be wrong on this, but if I was a Liverpool fan or the manager, that would be a big concern for me.’
