YOU could see the relief in Wayne Rooney’s eyes as he finally became England’s leading scorer.

The striker even displayed a hint of emotion after firing home his 50th goal for his country from the penalty spot against Switzerland to eclipse Sir Bobby Charlton’s long- standing record.

It is a remarkable achievement for a player not yet 30.

It doesn’t matter who the goals have come against, or from where on the pitch they were scored, the record books will put him at the top of the pile. That much is irrefutable.

Constant comparisons have been drawn with Charlton and Gary Lineker et al, but those who criticise Rooney miss an important distinction.

Just because the Manchester United captain has scored the most goals, it does not necessarily make him the best player.

Defenders will never score as many goals yet they are just as important to the team.

He has also struggled at major tournaments but so have the rest of the England team for the past two decades and more.

There have been times when his place in the squad has been called into question following poor runs of form.

But, crucially, he has still been the best in his position for a number of years and he keeps scoring goals so must be doing something right.

That much is proved with Danny Welbeck being the next highest scorer on 14.

Given that statistic, Rooney’s record will stand for many years to come.

But now he’s reached the milestone, like the player at Wembley on Tuesday, we can all now breathe a sigh of relief too.

For months the talk has been about Rooney breaking the record. The England skipper has been quizzed on it in just about every interview he has done in recent times.

The landmark surpassed, the focus can switch to the build-up to Euro 2016, which has almost been a sideshow to Rooney’s record atttempt. Likewise, the player himself will surely be glad to see the spotlight shift elsewhere.

Even though it was always a matter of when and not if, it has to be a huge weight off his shoulders.