Wayne Rooney was hailed as “unplayable” last night as normal service was resumed with a vengeance at Old Trafford. Manchester United cruised to a 3-0 victory over Celtic in their all-British clash, a result that stretched their unbeaten home record in the Champions League to 17 matches and confirmed that their England forward is in the best goalscoring form of his career.
The first two goals came from Dimitar Berbatov — who has scored four in two European appearances for his new club and five in total this season — although on each occasion he appeared to be offside. However, Celtic’s displeasure was downplayed by Gordon Strachan. “I’m not going to sit here and scream about offside,” the manager said. “I’m a football man and I know when I’m beaten — and well beaten.”In 19 away games in the present guise of the competition, Celtic have failed to muster a single victory and that sequence rarely looked in danger on their latest excursion south of the border. While their spirit could not be questioned, particularly in the opening half, United’s superiority told, with Rooney and Berbatov the key figures.
Rooney has mustered nine goals in his past seven appearances for club and country, a tally that exceeds the eight in seven he scored 12 months ago. “I’ve always said that Wayne’s goalscoring goes in spurts,” Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, said. “His goalscoring performances will even out as he gets older, we’ve no worries about that. I just hope the spurt he’s on lasts for a few more games.”
Strachan, the former United midfield player, was effusive, however. “I just think he’s unplayable,” he said of Rooney. “We tried different shapes and tactics, but he turns this way and that and then turns up somewhere else. When you see players like that you have to hold your hands up and say you’ve seen one world-class player backed up by a couple more, and then other international-class players.”
Strachan described United’s performance as “one of the best I’ve ever come across watching European football” and “better than anybody since I’ve been at Celtic”. That may have been excessive, but Ferguson’s players have served notice on their rivals in England and abroad that they remain a force to be reckoned with, keeping five clean sheets in succession and scoring 14 times in the process.
“We’re in a good bit of form at the moment and have terrific momentum,” Ferguson said. “I’m very pleased with the performance.” He has targeted ten points to qualify for the knockout stages — they have seven with three games to play, including Aalborg at home — but is intent on leaving group E as winners.
Ferguson also paid tribute to Berbatov. “Dimitar showed some fantastic pieces of football,” he said of the Bulgaria forward, who was slow to shine after his £30.75 million transfer from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer. “The rest of the team are beginning to understand the type of player he is and he can always produce a pass that will mean something. Some of his passing was absolutely superb.”Berbatov was substituted with a hip injury, but Ferguson insisted that he and Cristiano Ronaldo, who took a knock to a kneecap, should be available to play away to Everton on Saturday. The manager had said that he would consider resting Ronaldo against Celtic, but said that the player “demanded to play this morning”. Rio Ferdinand was absent after sustaining a minor knee injury in training. - George Caulkin, TheTimesOnline.co.uk
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