Thursday 4 August 2016 07:19, UK
Manchester United and Everton played out a drab goalless draw at Old Trafford in Wayne Rooney's testimonial match.
Rooney, who started his career at Everton before moving to Manchester United 12 years ago, is donating all the proceeds from the game to charity, but it won't be one that will live long in the memory.
Unfortunately for the 60,000 in attendance there was little for either set of fans to cheer and almost no goalmouth action as both teams rarely got into a rhythm and made regular substitutions in the second half.
John Stones and Romelu Lukaku, who have both been linked with moves away, started for Everton while Zlatan Ibrahimovic showed some good touches on his Old Trafford bow.
Rooney got the chance to play alongside new signing Ibrahimovic and they showed glimpses of a good understanding, most notably when the Swede shot at new Toffees goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg on 26 minutes.
Luke Shaw looked fit and full of beans on the left flank and he fizzed an effort wide on 42 minutes before Lukaku really should have done better from eight yards when heading a Seamus Coleman cross wide.
Mourinho warned the crowd pre-match that he planned to use 22 players and he was true to his word as he completely reshuffled his pack in the second half. Henrikh Mkhitaryan was one of those introduced but he struggled to have an impact on the game as Everton created the better chances.
Phil Jones deflected a ball from the right into the path of Kevin Mirallas on 52 minutes but he belted the ball into the side netting from close range.
Rooney departed minutes later to rapturous applause and that was the last cheer of the night as the game slipped into a non-event.
United will hope to be more purposeful in their play when they take on Leicester City in the Community Shield at Wembley on Sunday.
Everton have their final pre-season game on Saturday against Espanyol at Goodison Park before they start their Premier League campaign a week later against Tottenham.
