Wayne Rooney: Man Utd legend was incredible for England at Euro 2004

Alongside Patrick Vieira, Wayne Rooney was confirmed as the latest inductee to the Premier League Hall of Fame on Wednesday.

A five-time winner of the English top-flight, Rooney is also the second-highest scorer in the competition’s history.

Rooney made the first of his 491 Premier League appearances on August 17, 2002, representing his boyhood club Everton against Tottenham Hotspur.

Such was Rooney’s meteoric rise afterwards that he made his senior debut for England less than six months later.

Then-Three Lions boss Sven-Goran Eriksson handed Rooney his international bow during a friendly with Australia in February 2003 – and the youngster never looked back.

The emergence of Rooney couldn’t have come at a better time for his country, with Euro 2004 clearly on the horizon.

Called upon by Eriksson to represent England at the tournament in Portugal, Rooney certainly made his mark on the international stage.

Speaking during filming for his recent self-titled Amazon Prime documentary, Rooney revealed that he entered the competition with no shortage of confidence.

“Heading into the tournament, at 18, I remember thinking ‘I’m the best player in the world …There’s nobody better than me’ – and I believed it at the time,” said Rooney.

Those words are more than backed up by his highlights from the tournament.

For most up-and-coming players, a showdown with France in your first ever competitive match would be a daunting prospect, particularly when that French side boasts the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires and Thierry Henry in their ranks.

Not Rooney, though, who seemed to treat the whole occasion like a casual game of five-a-side with his mates.

Getting the better of the likes of Pires and Makelele with