Wayne Rooney reveals ex-England team-mate did not speak to him for over six months after ending Arsenal's invincible run

Rooney has revealed that Campbell held a six-month grudge against him after United beat Arsenal at Old Trafford in a controversial fixture back in 2004. The England international made his first appearance in the storied rivalry in the game, as the Gunners attempted to bring up their 50th successive fixture without a defeat. However, Rooney's man of the match performance put paid to that, as he won the penalty from Campbell, and then scored the second himself. But the central defender, who did stick out a leg in the box, held a grudge against the ex-Everton man. 

According to Rooney, the Gunners legend refused to speak to him at international camps for six months after. Speaking on his podcast, he said: “It was a big game for Arsenal. If they had won it, it was 50 games unbeaten for them. We beat them 2-0 and Campbell did not speak to me for over six months.We met up (during international duty) and Sol wouldn’t speak to me.

“Sometimes, I was with Sol and I’d say to him ‘come on man, we are playing for England here’. But he wouldn’t speak to me because he felt I dived. He left his leg out and I think there was a small contact.”

Rooney added on some of the more infamous clashes between the sides:  “I used to love it playing against Arsenal. I remember my first game at Highbury for United was with Roy (Keane) and (Patrick) Vieira in the tunnel, and you feel it. You feel the game on a knife edge.

“Then you had the (Cesc) Fabregas one with Sir Alex Ferguson throwing the pizza at him, and there’s fights in the tunnel which everyone was involved in. The (Martin) Keown incident was a year before I was there, but the next year we beat them 2-0.”

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After the game, a pizza was infamously thrown in the tunnel, with Ferguson being struck by a slice that Fabregas later admitted to throwing, as Rooney acknowledged. 

Ashley Cole recalled the incident in his autobiography, writing: "This slice of pizza came flying over my head and hit Fergie straight in the mush. The slap echoed down the tunnel and everything stopped - the fighting, the yelling, everything. All eyes turned and all mouths gawped to see this pizza slip off that famous puce face and roll down his nice black suit. I thought Ferguson was going to explode but then he stormed off into the dressing room cursing and grunting, brushing the crumbs and stains off his collar. We all went back into the dressing room and fell about laughing. All I can say is that the culprit wasn't English or French, so that should narrow it down."

Arsenal and United were famously the elite rivalry in the Premier League throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s but they have since endured mixed fortunes. The Gunners have not won the Premier League title since 2004, and United have not been champions since the 2012-13 season. Rooney, throughout his career, thrived in big games, and had a superb record when facing Arsenal, netting 15 goals in 35 games against them, and winning 17 of those fixtures, with both United and Everton. 

United's next encounter with Arsenal will come on January 25, when Ruben Amorim's side head to the Emirates to take on Mikel Arteta's league leaders. Arsenal currently sit 15 points ahead of United, with hopes high in north London that they will end their title drought this year.