Rooney in a November 2009 match against Everton
On 29 August, United played Arsenal at Old Trafford. Rooney scored the equaliser from the penalty spot after Andrei Arshavin had put the Gunners ahead. The game finished 2–1 to Manchester United after Abou Diaby scored an own goal.[88] Five days later Rooney commented on his penalty against Arsenal: "Everyone who watches me play knows I am an honest player, I play the game as honestly as I can. If the referee gives a penalty there is nothing you can do."[89] On 28 November 2009, Rooney scored his first hat-trick for three years in a 4–1 away victory against Portsmouth, with two of them being penalties.[90] On 27 December 2009, he was awarded Man of the Match against Hull City. He was involved in all the goals scored in the game, hitting the opener and then giving away the ball for Hull's equalizing penalty. He then forced Andy Dawson into conceding an own goal and then set up Dimitar Berbatov for United's third goal which gave them a 3–1 victory.[91] On 30 December 2009, three days on from their victory over Hull, he grabbed another goal in United's 5–0 thrashing of Wigan in their final game of the decade.[92] On 23 January 2010, Rooney scored all four goals in Manchester United's 4–0 win over Hull City; three of the goals came in the last 10 minutes of the match. This was the first time in his career that he bagged four in one match.[93] On 27 January 2010, he continued his scoring run by heading the winner in the second minute of stoppage time against derby rivals Manchester City. This gave United a 4–3 aggregate win, taking them into the final, it was his first League Cup goal since netting two in the 2006 final.[94] On 31 January 2010, Rooney scored his 100th Premier League goal in a 3–1 win over Arsenal for the first time in the league at the Emirates, notably his first Premier League goal also came against Arsenal.[95] On 16 February 2010, Rooney hit his first European goals of the season, scoring two headers in the 3–2 away win against Milan in Manchester United's first ever win against them at the San Siro.[96] On 28 February 2010, he scored another header against Aston Villa (his fifth consecutive headed goal in a row) which resulted in Manchester United winning the League Cup final 2–1.[97] In the second leg of United's European tie against Milan, Rooney scored a brace in a resounding 4–0 home victory, taking his tally of goals this season to 30.[98] He then added two more to his tally five days later at Old Trafford, in a 3–0 league win over Fulham.[99]
On 30 March 2010, during United's Champions League quarter-final first leg defeat against Bayern Munich at Munich's Allianz Arena, Rooney crumpled when he twisted his ankle in the last minute, hobbling off while Bayern were producing the build up that led to their second goal.[100] There were fears that he had received serious ligament damage or even a broken ankle, but it was announced that the injury was only slight ligament damage, and that he would be out for 2 to 3 weeks,[101] missing United's crunch match with Chelsea and the return leg against Munich the following week.[101] The team list for second leg yielded a massive surprise when Rooney was given a starting place in the United lineup.[102] Despite a 3–0 lead by the 41st minute, Munich snatched a goal back and United were later forced down to 10 men after Rafael da Silva was sent-off. Munich won the match after netting a second away-goal[102] and Rooney was substituted after re-damaging his ankle. On 25 April, Rooney was named the 2010 PFA Players' Player of the Year.[103]
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