Michael Owen Talks Wayne Rooney, Paul Pogba Penalty After Fenerbahce Win

Former Manchester United forward Michael Owen hinted that Wayne Rooney has lost his "nasty" streak after the Red Devils skipper appeared to concede penalty-taking duties to Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial in his side's 4-1 win over Fenerbahce on Thursday. 

Pogba and Martial both scored from the spot before the former netted a long-range effort and Jesse Lingard added a fourth in the 48th minute in the UEFA Europa League group-stage clash. Former United star Robin van Persie scored a late consolation for Fener. 

James Baylis - AMA/Getty Images

Before Pogba's opener from 12 yards, he and Rooney seemed to discuss who would take the spot-kick.

Speaking on BT Sport, Owen was unimpressed that the England international seemingly gave up his role as penalty-taker, referencing Rooney's hat-trick on his debut for United against the Turkish side as an 18-year-old back in 2004 (via Tom Farmery on MailOnline):

"

It grates with me a bit I must say.

Twelve years ago this lad played against Fenerbahce. His first game ever for Manchester United [and] he ripped the ball off Ryan Giggs. He was telling senior players round here and he goes and scores a hat-trick.

I agree with the captain side but if it's going to be like that then I think the captain shouldn't be a centre forward because he is a goalscorer. He has to be the goalscorer. He's one behind Sir Bobby Charlton in the all-time United scoring charts.

I just remember when he was younger he was nasty and he wanted to score he was desperate. If he gets a penalty he should be all over it and I can't believe he's handed it over.

"

Had Rooney taken and scored both penalties on Thursday, he would have moved just two goals away from eclipsing Charlton as United's most prolific goalscorer. 

Owen Hargreaves, another former United player, praised Rooney as "a good captain" for allowing Pogba to take the penalty, saying on BT Sport he believed it gave the Frenchman the confidence to net his brilliant second (via Farmery). 

Pogba, 23, explained after the clash that he said to Rooney he wanted to take the penalty and offered "big respect" to his captain for letting him do so, per BT Sport:

The former Juventus man—who became the world's most expensive player in the summer after his £89 million move back to United—has failed to make an immediate impact at Old Trafford but was in impressive form against Fener.

His goal from the spot came in the 31st minute and opened the floodgates, as three minutes later, Martial netted United's second penalty before Pogba added another goal just before half-time.

Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Feyenoord	3	2	0	1	2	1	1	6
Manchester United	3	2	0	1	5	2	3	6
Fenerbahce	3	1	1	1	3	5	-2	4
FC Zorya Luhansk	3	0	1	2	1	3	-2	1

Red Devils manager Jose Mourinho gave his interpretation of the penalty situation against the Turkish outfit, indicating to BT Sport that Pogba had been awarded penalty-taking duties before the clash (via the Sun's Gary Stonehouse): "The first penalty-taker was Paul. We made that decision. Then he probably didn’t want to repeat as the second penalty was minutes later. And then probably because Martial was the one who had the previous action, and he is also a good penalty-taker. That decision is not a problem for me."

It was a fine result for United amid a challenging run of fixtures and should give them a boost ahead of their visit to Chelsea in the Premier League on Sunday, as noted by the Manchester Evening News' Samuel Luckhurst:

Having lost their first group game of the 2016-17 Europa League, United have claimed back-to-back wins to move into second behind Feyenoord.

Rooney is likely to return to the bench for the trip to Stamford Bridge—before Thursday, he had not started a match since Sept. 21's clash with Northampton Town in the EFL Cup—but Pogba will surely remain in Mourinho's starting XI.

After a two-goal performance in the Europa League, Sunday could finally see Pogba find his form in the Premier League and lead his side to a vital victory.