Wayne Rooney

For better or for worse, Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has taken every competition seriously this campaign. You could say for better because it’s resulted in United reaching the EFL Cup final, the FA Cup quarterfinals and the Europa League round of 16.

You could say for worse because with the Red Devils holding a 3-0 advantage over Saint-Etienne in the Europa League, Mourinho elected to field a strong side in the second leg, resulting in injuries that will rule both Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Michael Carrick out of Sunday’s EFL Cup final.

In direct defiance of former Manchester United hard man Roy Keane, Paul and Florentin Pogba again displayed feelings of brotherly love on the soccer pitch Wednesday: giving dap, exchanging jerseys, strolling around the pitch postgame, applauding everyone and refraining from threatening to murder each other and calling each other

Wayne Rooney moved level with Bobby Charlton at 249 goals for Manchester United in the Red Devils 4-0 victory over Reading in the FA Cup third round. Rooney had been stuck on 248 since late November, but his smartly taken goal on Saturday put the 31-year-old on the brink of history.

Rooney’s goal opened the scoring in the seventh minute. Some fantastic play from Anthony Martial brought the ball to Juan Mata, and his clipped pass was deftly volleyed home by the man of the hour. 

It was over eight years ago on a cold night in Moscow that Manchester United defied the odds to defeat Chelsea and win the UEFA Champions League, their first victory in the competition since 1999. It was a monumental achievement from the Red Devils, and, to this day, it remains the club's last great European triumph.

Eight years on, it's interesting to take a look at what the 14 players who appeared on the night are up to now.

It’s the EFL Cup so everything must be taken with a grain of salt, but Manchester United’s dominate victory over West Ham in the quarterfinals saw United resemble a waking giant. It must also be said that West Ham’s performance was totally in line with their 2016-17 season so far — disastrous.

With only two minutes gone, the Red Devils opened the scoring after a brilliant exchange between Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. With both Paul Pogba and Marouane Fellaini suspended for the match, Mkhitaryan was handed a rare start and setup Ibrahimovic with a slick back heel.