5 deadliest striker duos in Manchester United history

#4 Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo

The partnership between Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney lit up the Premier League for five seasons before the Portuguese departed for the Santiago Bernabeu. By then, the two of them had formed one of the greatest striker duos in Manchester United history.

The start of the partnership began in the summer of 2004 when the Englishman joined the Manchester club from Everton. By then, Ronaldo had completed his first season with the Red Devils and had won his first silverware with the cub – the FA Cup. United fans were already drooling over the Portuguese teenager when they had another young footballer to get excited about.

Rooney was the more prolific goalscorer at the start of the partnership, but Ronaldo soon picked up the pace. The two of them pushed each other to their limits and Old Trafford watched in awe as they brushed opponents away. In the 2006/07 season, the two of them scored 23 goals each for United and the following season, they managed to hit 60 goals together, with Ronaldo scoring 42 and Rooney scoring 18! They went on to score 46 goals between them in Ronaldo’s final season before he headed to Spain.

By then, the two of them had won 3 Premier League titles, 2 League Cups, one Community Shield, one FIFA Club World Cup and one UEFA Champions League.

About the author

Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written more than 9000 articles for the website, and has garnered over 20 million reads.

Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.

Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.

Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.

Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.

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Edited by Rachel Syiemlieh