"?Wayne Rooney equalled Sir Bobby Charlton's all-time goalscoring record as Manchester United began their defence of the FA cup with a resounding 4-0 win over Championship promotion hopefuls Reading.
The United captain ended his long wait to equal the club record by scoring in just the sixth minute of the match, before further goals from Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford saw the holders comfortably seal their place into the fourth round of English football's most famous competition.
The emphatic result means United continue their recent resurgence, although much of the post-match headlines will inevitably be dominated by the record-equalling performance of Rooney.
As expected, United manager Jose Mourinho made wholesale changes to his side, with only Michael Carrick and Marcus Rojo remaining from the 2-0 win at West Ham. Rooney made his long awaited return from injury, having been absent since before Christmas, whilst fringe players Ashley Young and Sergio Romero were handed rare starts.
The hosts asserted themselves over their lower league opposition straight from kick-off and having gone close twice in the opening two minutes, they broke the deadlock moments later with a goal that had great significance for one individual in particular.
No-one has scored more goals for #MUFC than @WayneRooney! ?? pic.twitter.com/3l7UdGeTgJ
Juan Mata's cross-come-shot from the edge of the area was met by Rooney, who stuck out his knee to guide the ball into the far corner and move him level with Sir Bobby Charlton's all-time record of 249 goals for United.
With the Old Trafford faithful enjoying the historic occasion, United continued to pour forward and quickly doubled their lead when Martial's neat one-two with Rooney allowed the Frenchman to run in on goal and stroke the ball past Al-Habsi, with the aid of a small deflection.
To their credit, Reading rallied and created a number of opportunities of their own, but could well have found themselves even further behind when Rashford wasted a glorious chance by putting the ball wide of an empty goal from a tight angle.
The striker was then denied by the onrushing Al-Habsi, having been played in by Rooney, as the home side continued to dominate, although they were unable to add to their two-goal advantage before the half-time break.
It's been a tough afternoon for Reading so far.#munrea text and radio: https://t.co/j5KxzvowgV pic.twitter.com/6bYDSXCY40
With the match seemingly over, the second-half focus centred around the United captain and whether he could become the club's all-time record goalscorer.
The man-of-the-moment saw a number of chances pass him by within the first 10 minutes of the second period, whilst the lively Rashford was denied by Joey Van den Berg's last-ditch interception.
47' - That was almost it! @WayneRooney prods off target from @MarcusRashford's cross. #MUFC #FACup
As the game headed into the final 20 minutes, the visitors started to see more of the ball, although they were unable to cause Romero any real problems in the United goal. Any doubts about the results were soon eased though, as Rashford finally converted a chance and gave his side an all important third goal to kill the tie off.
The teenager raced onto Michael Carrick's through-ball, before calmly slotting the ball past Al-Habsi when one-on-one and ended his 18-match goal drought in the process.
Life was to get even better for the Englishman just minutes later when he was gifted his second goal of the game thanks to woeful mistake by Al-Habsi.
The Reading keeper dawdled in possession and with Rashford closing him down, a panicked clearance was horribly miss-kicked, thus allowing the United forward to put the ball into an empty net.
Oh dear, Ali Al-Habsi. ? ? ? #EmiratesFACup https://t.co/jSo8qFyK1B
The veteran goalkeeper did at least make some decent saves in the closing stages to prevent United's margin of victory becoming even greater and sadly for the home supporters, there was to be no late Rooney goal to cap off a momentous afternoon at Old Trafford, as Andre Marriner blew the full-time whistle to confirm the FA cup holders' passage into the next round.
The teams are in:
Wayne Rooney starts for #MUFC
Former United defender Tyler Blackett starts for #ReadingFC https://t.co/UVMbYSDxeq pic.twitter.com/IjnyukQGXJ
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