Norwich City defender Zak Whitbread is ready to resume his battle with Manchester United star Wayne Rooney today.

Whitbread will be hoping for a better outcome than in his first ever match against Rooney: for Liverpool Under-18s against Everton. Former Liverpool rookie Whitbread recalled: "He was still just a kid, probably only about 15 or so, and he was a substitute that day.

"We were winning 2-1 when he came on . . and he scored two goals in about 10 minutes. We lost 3-2. I've tried to forget it ever since! Even then he was a top talent and you could tell he was going to go on be a really big player. He's certainly gone on to score plenty more goals.

"All the senior Liverpool players were asking us about him in the dressing room later on that week and even though he hadn't even played for Everton at that stage, there were a lot of whispers about him in the game.

"It's going to be a great challenge for me facing him again. But I always want to test myself against the best."