Wayne Rooney admitted he was proud to reach another impressive milestone in his professional career in Derby County’s 1-1 draw against Fulham on Friday night.
The Derby skipper recorded his 500th appearance in English league football in the Sky Bet Championship clash at Pride Park Stadium.
Rooney marked the occasion with a goal, his fourth for the Rams since signing in January, by calmly slotting home a Panenka penalty shortly after half-time to give Derby the lead.
Aleksandar Mitrovic levelled for Fulham with 19 minutes remaining in what turned out to be a pulsating encounter under the floodlights.
Derby created plenty of chances throughout, hitting the target with seven of their 14 attempts, but Fulham goalkeeper Marek Rodak was in inspired form.
He superbly denied both Max Bird and Curtis Davies late on as Phillip Cocu's side pushed for all three points.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the final whistle, Rooney said: “It was a great game of football to watch and there were chances at both ends.
“Their goalkeeper made some great saves.
"With the penalty it’s not something that I’ve done in my whole career.
“I know goalkeepers study penalties and I had one not long ago, so it was something different – a bit of a surprise to the goalkeeper - and thankfully it went in.”
Rooney, who has over 700 appearances in club football to his name in total, is keen to continue to enjoy his football.
“It’s great (500 league games in English football) and there’s more games to come of course,” he said.
“I feel fine, I'm still playing and enjoying the game. It’s 500 now and I’ll celebrate when I stop playing.”
Rooney has made 12 appearances for Derby in all competitions since officially being registered as a Rams player at the start of January.
