LONDON: Wayne Rooney's febrile temperament came under scrutiny again last night when he reacted angrily to being substituted in Manchester United's 1-0 defeat of Besiktas and became involved in a verbal confrontation with Turkish supporters behind the dugout before hurling his right boot to the floor.

Rooney was replaced by Michael Owen 63 minutes into an otherwise satisfying evening for Sir Alex Ferguson's team, making no secret of his displeasure after playing as a solitary striker with little success. The England international traipsed off, making only the briefest of contact as he shook Owen's hand, and after sitting down in the dugout he pulled off a boot and threw it to the ground, pictured above.

Security men moved to the area because Rooney also reacted to something he heard from behind the dugout and shouted towards the fans. After taking his seat he could be seen covering his eyes with his hands in an open show of his annoyance.

"He is never pleased about coming off," Ferguson said. "With his energy, he wants to play all the time. But I always planned to make a change and bring on [Dimitar] Berbatov and Owen because Michael needs some more minutes on the pitch."

Ferguson said he had not seen Rooney lose his temper because he was watching the game but felt it was the right decision to replace him after a hectic period for the striker in which he played in England's games against Slovenia and Croatia. "It was always in my thoughts to freshen up a bit in attack. Wayne had played as a lone striker for an hour and it was always going to be the case that he came off."