Portsmouth FC will be glad to see the back of Wayne Rooney's playing days: View | OneFootball

There would have been parties on Frogmore Road on January 15th 2021, as one of Portsmouth Football Club’s greatest nemeses hung up their boots for good.

That was the day that Wayne Rooney called a day on a glittering career that saw him win Premier League titles, Champions League trophies, as well as represent England over 100 times.

But the rumours are if you ask him about his greatest achievement during his career, it’s the fact that he has scored the most goals against Pompey compared to any other player, with the south coast club regularly seeing him find the net against them. That's what it seemed like when he took the pitch against them, anyway.

With 12 goals in 15 appearances against the now-League One side, Rooney’s presence in the opposition frontline would be enough to make Pompey fans shudder, with the thought of yet another goal from the England international to add to his tally.

Wayne Rooney Portsmouth FC record for Everton, Manchester United

Rooney wasted no time in getting himself well-acquainted with Portsmouth, with the teenager finding the net on his very first meeting against the club; starting a run of five goals in his first five appearances against them after promotion to the Premier League for the 03/04 season.

It was a left-footed strike that got him off the mark at Fratton Park on that fateful day in December 2003, before notching the only goal of the game in the return fixture at Goodison Park the following March.

A move to Manchester United followed, and so did plenty more goals, with the striker netting a brace in his first match against Pompey at Old Trafford, before another goal in a 3-0 win the following season.

This was a Wayne Rooney at the peak of his powers; the rumbustious striker who would mow down anything that came in his path if it meant fashioning a chance of a goal. His aggression, tenacity and penchant for the spectacular made him one of the most lethal strikers in the country if not the world at this point, and no one was spared from a thumping strike past a despairing goalkeeper.

It was precision not power that marked one of his finest strikes against the club, with his second in an FA Cup brace in 2007 saw him beautiful lob David James in front of the Old Trafford faithful, with shades of Eric Cantona as the ball nestled into the side netting.

Whatever Rooney touched turned to goals against Portsmouth, an it was only a matter of time before he managed to take the match-ball home from a trip to Fratton Park, which is exactly what he did after a 4-1 victory in 2009, with two of the strikes coming from the penalty spot.

With Pompey’s financial demise seeing them relegated at the end of that season, the Englishman’s goal in a 5-0 rout at Old Trafford in the February turned out to be his last goal against one of his favourite opposition in the early stages of his career; having only been 24 the last time he faced off against them.

Fellow England teammate Frank Lampard [pictured] also ranks highly in goals against Portsmouth, with the former Chelsea man netting ten times against them during his career, while current Derby County forward James Collins is the only other player to reach double figures.

Thierry Henry’s record of nine goals against Portsmouth in just seven matches is another that leaps off the page, with the Frenchman netting a hat-trick and two braces while at Arsenal, with just two of his matches against Pompey ending without a goal.

But it is Rooney who tormented the Solent side the most during those Premier League years, with goals from all angles flying in as Manchester United continued to battle for league success, and they must have been mightily pleased to see the back of him one he called it a day on his goal-laden career.