Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has said that Wayne Rooney is a traitor to Everton fans ahead of the two sides' clash later today.

The striker is consistently booed whenever he returns to Goodison Park after he moved to Old Trafford for £25m in 2004.

"You know what fans are like, he's a traitor as far as they are concerned," said Ferguson. "That's never going to change."

"He's had mixed success going to Everton. He's scored a couple of goals in previous games and gets booed as normal.

"He got booked in one game and I took him off because there was no way I was going to give the referee an opportunity to send him off."

The Red Devils go into the match having lost their previous league game 6-1 at home to local rivals Manchester City.