Rooney is a hooligan, according to the Spanish press

Spanish daily Marca has aimed a jibe at the Manchester United striker before the big game this week in the Champions League.

By Adrian Collins

Spanish sports paper Marca has been taking aim at the “bad boy” of English football Wayne Rooney in today's issue, with a few choice words about the Manchester United striker.

The headline of the paper reads: “The Bogeyman and 5,000 friends”, while the sub-headline states that nearly 1,000 will arrive without tickets.

Journalist Hugo Cerezo writes that Rooney is a “freckled devil” who could just as easily be one of the hooligans in the stands who will arrive to support United “shouting and drinking beer”.

They've done their homework on Wayne, who doesn't exactly have a clean record, and point out that he's got a few unresolved issues with Madrid players. They point to his incident in 2006 when he stamped on Carvalho and was arguing with Ronaldo, his elbow on Pepe which saw him sent off during a friendly game with Porto as well as his push on Casillas in a game against Spain in 2004 which sent the Spanish international into the photographers behind the goal.

In case you've forgotten, here's the video of his stamp, and another one of the push

We think it's fairly unlikely that this will provide any extra motivation for the players involved, but the more recent tweets Marca bring up might, such as when Rooney called Pepe an “idiot” while watching a Clasico encounter last year.

His record against Spanish teams isn't great, having played ten games against La Liga opposition and never coming out a winner. He has, inevitably, been sent off against a Spanish team when in 2005 against Villareal he was booked and then sent off for applauding the referee.

It isn't all insults though, as they do note that Madrid will have to work very hard to stop Rooney, and that not only does he play at a frantic pace, but he's also very capable of scoring.

Either way, we're looking forward to an absolute cracker tomorrow night, and Rooney's quick temper might become a problem in an atmosphere that will undoubtedly be highly charged.