"One played with Rooney" - Manchester United fans highlight IQ difference between Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford as Twitter clip goes viral

A viral Twitter video has compared two similar Manchester United counter-attacks, claiming to show the difference in intelligence between Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford.

The clip, published by Twitter user @totalzizou, first shows a failed Manchester United counter-attack against Leicester City in 2022. In the clip, Cristiano Ronaldo rains down the left wing and plays the ball into space for Rashford.

Instead of dashing towards goal, Rashford returns it to Ronaldo, who, under heavy pressure, fails to move the ball forward. The video then shows a second clip, where Cristiano Ronaldo is seen in Rashford’s position and Wayne Rooney in Ronaldo’s.

Rooney plays the ball to Cristiano Ronaldo, who is seen charging down the middle. Instead of immediately returning the ball to Rooney, as Rashford did to Ronaldo in 2022, Ronaldo continued his run before releasing Rooney at the very end. The Englishman then applied a dinked finish to beat the keeper. The clip is from Manchester United’s 4-1 win over Bolton Wanderers in 2007.

Fans were quick to chime in, with most of them calling Cristiano Ronaldo’s footballing IQ superior to Rashford’s.

@sealteamsix22 wrote:

“Not a cr7 stan in the slightest but why doesn’t rashford just continue instead of laying the ball off - there’s nobody there bruv”

@highwaine agreed, saying:

“Rashford had a lot of space to move forward with the ball”

Another user, @djvic27, added:

“Everyone wants to criticize Ronaldo for being too slow and old. What actually happened is Ronaldo pull the defender towards him by keeping the ball and then he passed it to the open man. What Rashford did was passing too early to the covered man. Be smart about what you criticize”

Not all were in agreement, however, with @ludrix07 saying that Ronaldo had a better strike partner in an in-form Rooney.

He added:

“The diff is one played with Rooney”

Rashford has emerged as Manchester United's undisputed talisman since Cristiano Ronaldo's departure in November. The Englishman has scored 25 goals in 42 games across competitions this season.

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Pep Guardiola disappointed after idol Julia Roberts snubs Manchester City in Manchester United’s favor

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City cruised to a massive 7-0 victory over RB Leipzig in the second leg of their Champions League Round-of-16 meeting on Tuesday (14 March). Erling Haaland stole the show after scoring five goals as the Cityzens secured passage to the Champions League quarter-finals with an 8-1 aggregate victory.

City boss Guardiola, however, still appeared disappointed at a post-match press conference. His idol, Julia Roberts, went to watch Manchester United instead of City. The Spanish coach said (via The BBC):

"Julia Roberts years ago came to Manchester, not in the period of Alex Ferguson when they were winning title after title, in the last four or five years when we were better than them. But she didn't come to see us. She went to visit Man United."

"Even if I win the Champions League, it will not [ease] the disappointment of Julia Roberts going to United. My idol."

Guardiola further disclosed that Roberts was one of his three heroes, with the other two being Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.