Rooney answers his critics in emphatic style
WAYNE ROONEY ended his 878-minute goal drought with a fine hat-trick as Manchester United destroyed Club Brugge to qualify for the Champions League group stages.
United spared Brugge no mercy as Louis van Gaal enjoyed the joint-biggest win of his time as United boss – winning 7-1 on aggregate.
Rooney was the star of United’s victory. The United captain will come up against more formidable defences than Brugge’s this year, but the way the way he took all three of goals in this 4-0 win was impressive.
The 29-year-old latched on to Memphis Depay’s through-ball to put United ahead in the 20th minute and he converted passes from Ander Herrera and Juan Mata to record his first hat-trick since September 2011.
Herrera completed the rout in the 63rd minute after Brugge’s defence went to pieces and it would have been five had Javier Hernandez not missed a late spot-kick.
After a painful one-year hiatus, United will dine at Europe’s top table this season and their fans will be confident of more Champions League glory nights after this impressive win.
Rooney was never worried about his run without a goal and the scrutiny that came with it did not surprise him.
“If I didn’t have a strong char- acter maybe that would have affected me, but I know my quality, I know what I give to the team and if the goals don’t go in I still bring a lot to my team-mates,” said Rooney.
“Thankfully I got the chances tonight and I stuck them in.
“I wasn’t worried, if it was going on for three, four, five games more then maybe so but it’s early days and I knew when the chances came I’d take them.
“As a striker obviously you want to score, everybody goes back to last season and it was so many games without scoring, but a lot of top quality strikers are yet to get off the mark at this stage.
“I understand because of my name and because of who I am it will get publicised a lot more. That’s my job and I understand that.”
“To go through to the group stage after being out of it last year is a great result. We look forward to the draw.
“It was a big disappointment last year not to challenge in it.”