{"id":146721,"date":"2015-08-27T07:16:22","date_gmt":"2015-08-27T07:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=146721"},"modified":"2015-08-27T07:16:22","modified_gmt":"2015-08-27T07:16:22","slug":"rooney-hat-trick-sends-man-utd-through-in-champions-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=146721","title":{"rendered":"Rooney hat-trick sends Man Utd through in Champions League"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wayne Rooney ended his goal drought with a hat-trick as Manchester United beat Club Brugge to book their place in the Champions League group stages.<\/p>\n

United led 3-1 from the first leg and Rooney added to that with a dinked shot for his first goal of the season.<\/p>\n

The striker had a simple tap-in for his second goal after midfielder Ander Herrera’s unselfish pass.<\/p>\n

Rooney swept in a shot for his third and Herrera sidefooted in before Javier Hernandez missed a United penalty.<\/p>\n

Hernandez also wasted a late chance as he skied a shot from four yards out.<\/p>\n

United will now go into Thursday’s group stage draw following a one-season absence.<\/p>\n

Relief for Rooney<\/strong><\/p>\n

At last. The England captain opened his goalscoring account for the season at the fifth attempt and the relief was plain to see.<\/p>\n

Rooney put his hands to his face before giving a prayer to the sky after his first club goal since an effort against Aston Villa in April.<\/p>\n

He appeared to have been energised in terms of confidence after his opener, which came from Memphis Depay’s through ball.<\/p>\n

Herrera and Juan Mata set up Rooney’s other goals as he finally benefitted from more midfield support in his role as the main striker.<\/p>\n

“To be honest, if I didn’t have a strong character that (the criticism) might have affected me,” Rooney told BT Sport.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

Van Gaal’s midfield conundrum<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\"Manchester<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ander Herrera scored eight goals for United last season<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Herrera made his first start of the season as United manager Louis van Gaal rested Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger, and the Spaniard pushed his claims for a regular starting berth.<\/p>\n

The diminutive playmaker started alongside the more defensive Michael Carrick and, despite some early rustiness, his vision and creative instincts benefitted Rooney and United in attack.<\/p>\n

Van Gaal’s players have been accused of not helping Rooney by failing to run beyond him to help create space.<\/p>\n

Herrera, though, was keen to push on, scoring a goal of his own as the Belgians capitulated.<\/p>\n

Schweinsteiger and winger Ashley Young were introduced in the second half, adding to the competition for midfield places at United.<\/p>\n

Man of the match – Wayne Rooney<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\"Manchester<\/strong><\/p>\n

No-one was going to get the matchball off Wayne Rooney – not even the referee<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Reaction<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manchester United manager Louis Van Gaal speaking to BT Sport:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“I think we were very organised. We played the ball a little bit more simple than before. You can create gaps and we scored so that is also good.<\/p>\n

“Every goal shall give confidence to every player, even Wayne. I’m very happy for him.<\/p>\n

“He has the best mentality that you can imagine. Such players with that level will always come back.”<\/p>\n

Captain Wayne Rooney:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“I wasn’t worried. If the goals don’t go in I still bring a lot to my team-mates.”<\/p>\n

Club Brugge coach Michel Preud’homme:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“This team (Manchester United) has everything – technical quality, physical quality in power and endurance, and of course they have the mentality.”<\/p>\n

Pundit analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n

BBC Radio 5 live’s Danny Mills: “Job done by Manchester United and delight for Wayne Rooney, but I don’t think you can tell from this whether United’s season will be a success or not.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

The stats you need to know<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Wayne Rooney scored his first European hat-trick since his Manchester United debut against Fenerbahce in 2004.<\/li>\n
  • It was Rooney’s first hat-trick since a treble against Bolton Wanderers in September 2011.<\/li>\n
  • Memphis Depay has had a hand in four of Manchester United’s goals in this Champions League qualifying campaign with two goals and two assists.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    What next?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Manchester United will go into the draw for the Champions League group stages on Thursday before a trip to Swansea for a game at 16:00 BST on Sunday.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Source: BBC Sport<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Wayne Rooney ended his goal drought with a hat-trick as Manchester United beat Club Brugge to book their place in the Champions League group stages. United led 3-1 from the first leg and Rooney added to that with a dinked shot for his first goal of the season. The striker had a simple tap-in for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":146722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[29,3],"class_list":["post-146721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dr-mahamudu-bawumia","tag-ghana-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=146721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/146722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=146721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=146721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=146721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}