Fabio Capello stands by NO1 England Striker: I still Trust Loony Rooney

Posted Sunday, October 09, 2011 by Dailystar.co.uk

Fabio Capello stands by NO1 England Striker: I still Trust Loony Rooney
Above: Wayne Rooney during England's game against Montenegro

Fabio Capello admitted last night that he has no option but to trust Wayne Rooney at Euro 2012 – because he is England’s best player.

The Manchester United striker was sent off in Montenegro on Friday night as England qualified for next summer’s European Championships with a tense 2-2 draw.

It was the sixth red card of Rooney’s professional career.

And he will now be banned for at least the first match in Poland and Ukraine – and UEFA could increase his suspension to two games.

So Rooney is again making headlines for the wrong reasons. But England boss Capello said: “I trust him because he is a really good player – an important player who makes the difference when he is at the top.

“For a long time, he has been the best player for the national team and I am sure he will be really important at the Euros.

“He will be really important because he is very proud. You can’t read everything, players are difficult to understand.

But when you have one player so good, so important, it is difficult to read everything he will do in a game.

“He can do something fantastic – and he can make a silly mistake.

“It is not always in my head that he’ll do something like he did against Montenegro but he did make an error – and it was just in front of me.

“He thought he had control of the ball, then lost it and he kicked the opponent.

“But I think it will be a really good lesson for him. I can still trust Rooney to do the right thing – absolutely, yes.”

Capello stressed that Rooney (right) doesn’t just have discipline problems when he is playing for England.

The Italian added: “I have seen him do the same for Manchester United – but the referee gave him a yellow card.

This time the referee decided it was a red card.

“During the game, there were a lot of so-so yellow cards, so I was surprised to see the red.

“Why? Because he kicked but he did not kick to crush the legs.

Yes, he made a mistake. But for me it was more like an orange card.

“As it was just in front of me, I saw everything.”

As Rooney’s dad, Wayne Snr, was arrested 24 hours before the match, Montenegro manager Branko Brnovic was surprised the England striker even played in the vital qualifying game.

He said: “I read in the newspapers that Rooney has some serious family problems back home in England.

“It must have been very difficult for him to play in the match under those circumstances.

“That is probably why he kicked out and did what he did.”