On This Day: Wayne Rooney nets hat-trick on Manchester United debut

On debut for Manchester United, the likes of Sir Bobby Charlton, Paul Scholes and Ruud van Nistelrooy all found the net more than once, while teenagers George Best and Cristiano Ronaldo excited supporters with their pace and trickery.

Yet, in terms of overall contribution, all of them were upstaged by an 18-year-old Wayne Rooney, who announced himself as a United player by scoring a Champions League hat-trick.

The striker had actually joined the Red Devils from Everton for £25m a month earlier, but a foot injury suffered while on international duty with England at Euro 2004 had prevented him from making an immediate entrance.

Rooney's chance eventually arrived with the visit of Turkish club Fenerbahce, who made the trip to Old Trafford 10 years ago today.

The away side had only previously won once on the road in European football's top club competition, which ironically was recorded at the expense of United. However, any hope that Fenerbahce had of repeating that feat was crushed by Rooney.

Ryan Giggs put United in front with just seven minutes on the clock, but the debutant then took centre stage from the 17th minute onwards. Van Nistelrooy slotted a pass through for his new strike partner, who from the edge of the area found the roof of Rustu Recber's net.

Then, 11 minutes later, Gabriel Heinze raided down the left, before slotting a pass inside for Giggs. The Welshman in turn found Rooney and having sidestepped beyond his marker, the youngster found the bottom corner from 20 yards out.

Two minutes after the restart Marcio Nobre reduced the arrears, but any nerves were eased as Rooney completed the first hat-trick of his professional career in the 54th minute. Following the departure of David Beckham to Real Madrid a year earlier, Giggs had taken on many of the set-piece duties, but he stepped aside on this occasion as Rooney executed the perfect effort that curled away from Rustu.

Future Middlesbrough centre-forward Tuncay Sanli made it 4-2 soon after, but quickfire goals from Van Nistelrooy and David Bellion in the closing stages secured a 6-2 victory for the hosts, which sent them to the top of Group D.

After the final whistle, many of his teammates were quick to sing Rooney's praises, including Giggs, who said: "To score a hat-trick in your first match for Manchester United is a very special feat but Wayne's display was even more unbelievable because of the circumstances.

"He's 18, it was his first taste of the Champions League and he hadn't played for three months. It's the sort of start you normally only dream of. His performance was outstanding but it was his sharpness that impressed me most."

Van Nistelrooy added: "For our first game together it was excellent. We take it from here and, hopefully, we can do even better. Wayne's 18 and knows all eyes are on him but goes out and does his own thing. That is fantastic. He's fearless. It is his debut in the Champions League at Old Trafford and he scored a hat-trick, need I say more?"

MAN UNITED: Carroll; G Neville, Ferdinand, Silvestre, Heinze (P Neville); Bellion, Djemba-Djemba, Kleberson, Giggs (Fletcher); van Nistelrooy (Miller), Rooney

FENERBAHCE: Rustu; Baris, Luciano, Ozat, Akyel (Akin); Balci, Aurelio, Nobre; Sanli, Alex, Van Hooijdonk