Spanish newspaper calls Wayne Rooney a “hooligan” and “freckled demon”

Just when everyone thinks you couldn’t hype up tomorrow’s Real Madrid - Manchester United clash anymore, leave it to the Spanish media to throw some more logs onto the fire.

The notorious Madrid-based newspaper Marca decided to pick on United and specifically Wayne Rooney a day before the match, branding him a “hooligan” and “freckled demon.” The headline reads: “The Bad Boy-and 5000 of his friends,” referring to the number of United fans expected to wreck havoc in the Spanish capital tomorrow.

If Rooney was for any reason perturbed by this (and why would he?) Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho had some consoling words:

“I didn’t read it,” said Mourinho. “I don’t know if it was written in that context, calling him a hooligan, or completely different. But if I can say one thing on behalf of Rooney, I was called worse than that, week by week.”