Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, centre, celebrates with Paul Scholes  and Dimitar Berbatov after scoring against Tottenham.
Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, centre, celebrates with Paul Scholes and Dimitar Berbatov after scoring against Tottenham.

Title is ours to lose, says United's Rooney



Wayne Rooney feels the Premier League title is Manchester United's to lose after they came from two goals down to beat Tottenham 5-2. United trailed at half-time but ran riot in the second half, scoring five goals in the space of 22 minutes courtesy of Rooney (two), Cristiano Ronaldo (two) and Dimitar Berbatov. The win took them back to the top of the table after Liverpool had briefly gone top with a 3-1 win over Hull earlier the same day, and they have a three-point cushion and a game in hand over the Reds. "We know we're in a great position," Rooney said. "We have to take advantage of that game in hand. We've got five games left and it's ours to throw away. "It was very important to win today and stay top of the league by a margin. It gives us belief and confidence ahead of the midweek game. "It was a brilliant comeback. The first half was too slow and we had to quicken up. We knew once we got that first goal we'd have a chance and in the end it was quite comfortable." An upset had looked on the cards at the interval with Spurs 2-0 up thanks to an opportunist strike from Darren Bent and a neat control and finish from Luka Modric. United grabbed a lifeline in the 57th minute when Ronaldo held his nerve to convert from the spot after the keeper Heurelho Gomes was ruled to have brought down Michael Carrick. And after Rooney had slotted the equaliser past Gomes at his near post in the 67th minute, the visitors crumbled. Ronaldo headed a third from a Rooney cross a minute later and the England striker adding a fourth just three minutes after that. Berbatov poked home number five after the sorry Gomes spilt his initial header. * PA Sport

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013 

Leap of Faith

Michael J Mazarr

Public Affairs

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