Friendly match - International Champions Cup, Sports Authority Field, Denver - Roma 2 (Pjanic 75, Totti pen 86) Manchester United 3 (Rooney 35, 45 pen, Mata 39)
Wayne Rooney inspired Manchester United to a 3-2 win over AS Roma in the first match of the pre-season International Champions Cup tournament at Sports Authority Field, Denver.
The England striker scored twice and set up a third for Juan Mata as United went in at the break 3-0 up.
United manager Louis van Gaal made nine changes at the interval and Roma scored twice in the second half, with Miralem Pjanic netting a wonder goal that embarrassed United goalkeeper Ben Amos, and Francesco Totti converting from the penalty spot with four minutes remaining.
United had struggled in the first 35 minutes before Rooney took centre stage.
Again and again, Roma striker Mattia Destro looked to exploit the gaps behind the United defence and goalkeeper Sam Johnstone.
He failed to hit the target with an early lob that bounced over the United goal, then was caught offside on a number of occasions as he lurked on the shoulder of Reece James or Tyler Blackett.
It threatened to be a long afternoon in the heat and humidity of a Denver afternoon, until Rooney changed the game with two goals and an assist in ten minutes.
The first goal came on 35 minutes when the England striker took advantage of the retreating Roma defence to take an extra touch before shooting across his body from 25 yards to arrow the ball over Roma goalkeeper Łukasz Skorupski.
Four minutes later, United made it 2-0 as Mata chipped over Skorupski from the left-hand edge of the box after a superb floated Rooney pass that bypassed the Roma defence.
Rooney scored the third from the penalty spot one minute before the break, after Danny Welbeck had been pulled down by Urby Emanuelson in the box as he ran on to an Ander Herrera pass.
Amos, on as half-time substitute for Johnstone, was beaten by a brilliant lob from Pjanic with 15 minutes remaining. Receiving the ball 10 yards inside his own half, the Bosnian looked up before floating a shot over the United goakeeper.
Totti then scored Roma’s second from the penalty shot in the 86th minute after Michael Keane handled in the area.
Van Gaal looked far from happy at the final whistle despite the three points, because in truth his United side were second best for long stretches of the game.
They next meet Inter Milan in Washington DC on Wednesday, before concluding their Group A campaign against Real Madrid on Saturday in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
-- Eurosport
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