The Legend - Wayne Rooney

For 45 years, since 1970, Bobby Charlton was England's top scorer with 49 goals. Many had tried unsuccessfully to eclipse the record, with Gary Lineker coming close at 48 goals.

But on 6th September 2015, history was rewritten when England hit San Marino 6-0.

Wayne Rooney scored from the penalty spot to put the Three Lions 1-0 ahead and in the process, he equaled Bobby Charlton's 49 goals feat.

Three days later, again via a penalty, Rooney broke the record and became the greatest goal scorer for England.

 Here is a timeline of Rooney's England career thus far. You can catch all the 50 goals at the end of the article.

• 2003

  • Feb 12
    Aged 17 years and 111 days, Rooney became the youngest player to play for England when he earned his first cap in a friendly defeat against Australia at the Boleyn Ground.
  • Sep 06
    Aged 17 years and 317 days, became the youngest player to score for England, equalising in a 2–1 away victory over Macedonia in a UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying match.

• 2004

  • Jun 17
    His first tournament action was at UEFA Euro 2004. Became the youngest scorer when he scored twice against Switzerland. But record was topped four days later.
  • Jun 24
    Suffer an injury as England were eliminated by Portugal in the quarter-final, via penalty shoot-out.
  • Jul
    Named in UEFA's Team of the Tournament for Euro 2004.

• 2006

  • Jun 15
    Came on as a substitute in England's 2006 FIFA World Cup opening match against Trinidad and Tobago despite suffering a foot injury in April 2006.
  • Jun 20
    Started the next game against Sweden.
  • July 01
    Red-carded in the 62th minute of the quarter-final match against Portugal, again on penalty kicks. Cristano Ronaldo, Rooney's teammate at Manchester United played a big part in the sending off.

• 2009

  • Oct 14
    Top scored for England in their 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign with nine goals; one behind the UEFA section's overall top goalscorer, Theofanis Gekas of Greece.
  • Nov 14
    Captained England for the first time in a pre-tournament friendly with Brazil.

• 2010

  • Jun 27
    England was knocked out in the second round and Rooney finished the tournament with no goals.
  • Sep 07
    Scored England's first goal in their 3-1 win over Switzerland.

• 2011

  • Sep 02
    Scored twice against Bulgaria in their UEFA Euro 2012 qualification.
  • Oct 07
    Sent-off against in the last qualifier against Montenegro. Punished with a three game ban, meaning he will miss all the group stage matches. Reduced to two games after appeal.

• 2012

  • Jun 19
    Return for the last group stage match against Ukraine and scored the only goal.
  • Oct 12
    Became England's 5th highest goalscorer after scoring twice in a World Cup qualifier against San Marino.
    
    Captained England for the first time in a competitive game.

• 2013

  • Feb 06
    Scored in the 2-1 win against Brazil in a friendly game.
  • Mar 03
    Scored once in the 8-0 win over San Marino.
  • Mar 26
    Opened the scoring in England's 1-1 draw againt Montenegro.
  • Jun 02
    Scored against Brazil in a 2-2 draw in the official re-opening of the refurbished Maracana Stadium.
  • Oct 11
    Scored in the 4-1 World Cup qualifier against Montenegro to become England's all-time top scorer in competitive international with 27 competitive goals.
  • Oct 15
    Ended the qualification campaign with a goal agqinst Poland.

• 2014

  • Jun 19
    Scored to briefly equalised for England against Uruguay.
  • Aug 28
    Named as England's new captain after Steven Gerrard's international retirement.
  • Sep 03
    Scored a penalty against Norway in his first match of his captaincy.
  • Nov 15
    Won his 100th international cap against Slovenia. Scored a penalty to equalise in a 3-1 win.

• 2015

  • Jun 14
    Score the winner against Slovenia, putting him joint second alongside Gary Lineker in England's all time goal scorers.
  • Sep 05
    Scored a penalty against San Marino to equal Bobby Charlton's record of 49 goals.
  • Sep 08
    Broke the record by netting a penalty against Switzerland.
    
    Equalled Ashley Cole's as his country 5th highest capped player.