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The Red Beast pins hopes on 'unbelievable' Red Wiz
Posted: 5 hours ago
Wayne Rooney has hailed Manchester United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo as "by far the best player in the world" ahead of their clash with Roma.
At the World Cup last summer, the young duo were famously daggers drawn during England's World Cup quarter-final defeat by Portugal.
Many pundits, and some senior figures among Rooney's international colleagues, were unhappy at Ronaldo's part in his club-mate's dismissal in Gelsenkirchen.
Although he admitted afterwards he was disappointed with Ronaldo's conduct, Rooney was quick to forgive the winger and happy to put the past to one side in a combined effort to bring glory to Old Trafford.
Yet Rooney can hardly have expected to be shunted into the shade quite as much as he has been by Ronaldo this term.
The £27million forward may have broken a 17-game Champions League drought with his goal in Rome last week. But, as injury-hit United look to overturn Roma's 2-1 advantage in tomorrow's quarter-final decider at Old Trafford, there is no doubt who the home supporters will be pinning most of their hopes on.
"At the minute, Cristiano is by far the best player in the world," said Rooney.
"He performances have been unbelievable. He is winning games on his own this season. He has been unbelievable.
"Hopefully he can work some of his magic tomorrow and get us into the semi-finals."
Rooney's praise is confirmation, if it were needed, of Ronaldo's remarkable reaction to the adverse publicity he received on the back of England's exit in Germany, which looked certain at one stage to drive him out of Old Trafford for good.
Amazingly though, he is yet to score at all for United on the biggest club stage of all.
His talent is not in question, given the regularity with which he appears on the scoresheet for both club and country, but how United could do with the 22-year-old adding to his 16 Premiership goals against Roma given the difficulty of the task awaiting them.
Five times in Champions League history United have attempted to overturn a first-leg deficit in knockout combat, and five times they have failed.
The latest occasion came against AC Milan three years ago, when Rooney and Ronaldo were both involved, but too raw and inexperienced to have any kind of influence on the overall outcome.
"We were still young and trying to learn the game," said Rooney.
"Playing against the likes of (Paolo) Maldini and (Alessandro) Nesta gives you a good platform to learn from. I feel we have both improved as players since then, and matured a lot."
With Gary Neville, Nemanja Vidic, Park Ji-sung and Louis Saha missing through injury, and Paul Scholes suspended following his needless red card in the Stadio Olimpico, Rooney and Ronaldo will certainly need to rise to the occasion if United are to book a semi-final meeting with either Milan or Bayern Munich.
Rooney's goal at least gives United heart, especially after producing such a battling performance during a game when they were down to 10 men for almost an hour.
And it will also silence those who used his on-going failure to follow up his debut-day Champions League hat-trick against Fenerbahce to question Rooney's qualities at the highest level.
"There has been a lot of talk about the fact I have not scored for a while in the Champions League," said Rooney.
"Hopefully now the talking will stop and I can concentrate on trying to get more goals.
"I don't know why I had not scored. I have had chances. Maybe I should have scored on some occasions, on others the keeper has made good saves. But obviously, it is a relief to finally get the goal."
The fatigue lingering from that effort in Italy was shown at Fratton Park on Saturday, when the Red Devils crashed to a defeat which raised major question marks over their ability to hold off Chelsea on the six-game Premiership title run-in.
United's current lengthy injury list hardly helps dispel those fears.
Rooney, though, believes there is more than enough talent within the Old Trafford dressing room to ensure a positive and forceful response to the end of an unbeaten run stretching back to the loss at Arsenal in the middle of January.
"It is important the reaction from the weekend is a positive one," he said.
"We are disappointed with the weekend result but this is a different tournament.
"We have played well all season and we don't want to let ourselves down now."
Posted: 5 hours ago
Wayne Rooney has hailed Manchester United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo as "by far the best player in the world" ahead of their clash with Roma.
At the World Cup last summer, the young duo were famously daggers drawn during England's World Cup quarter-final defeat by Portugal.
Many pundits, and some senior figures among Rooney's international colleagues, were unhappy at Ronaldo's part in his club-mate's dismissal in Gelsenkirchen.
Although he admitted afterwards he was disappointed with Ronaldo's conduct, Rooney was quick to forgive the winger and happy to put the past to one side in a combined effort to bring glory to Old Trafford.
Yet Rooney can hardly have expected to be shunted into the shade quite as much as he has been by Ronaldo this term.
The £27million forward may have broken a 17-game Champions League drought with his goal in Rome last week. But, as injury-hit United look to overturn Roma's 2-1 advantage in tomorrow's quarter-final decider at Old Trafford, there is no doubt who the home supporters will be pinning most of their hopes on.
"At the minute, Cristiano is by far the best player in the world," said Rooney.
"He performances have been unbelievable. He is winning games on his own this season. He has been unbelievable.
"Hopefully he can work some of his magic tomorrow and get us into the semi-finals."
Rooney's praise is confirmation, if it were needed, of Ronaldo's remarkable reaction to the adverse publicity he received on the back of England's exit in Germany, which looked certain at one stage to drive him out of Old Trafford for good.
Amazingly though, he is yet to score at all for United on the biggest club stage of all.
His talent is not in question, given the regularity with which he appears on the scoresheet for both club and country, but how United could do with the 22-year-old adding to his 16 Premiership goals against Roma given the difficulty of the task awaiting them.
Five times in Champions League history United have attempted to overturn a first-leg deficit in knockout combat, and five times they have failed.
The latest occasion came against AC Milan three years ago, when Rooney and Ronaldo were both involved, but too raw and inexperienced to have any kind of influence on the overall outcome.
"We were still young and trying to learn the game," said Rooney.
"Playing against the likes of (Paolo) Maldini and (Alessandro) Nesta gives you a good platform to learn from. I feel we have both improved as players since then, and matured a lot."
With Gary Neville, Nemanja Vidic, Park Ji-sung and Louis Saha missing through injury, and Paul Scholes suspended following his needless red card in the Stadio Olimpico, Rooney and Ronaldo will certainly need to rise to the occasion if United are to book a semi-final meeting with either Milan or Bayern Munich.
Rooney's goal at least gives United heart, especially after producing such a battling performance during a game when they were down to 10 men for almost an hour.
And it will also silence those who used his on-going failure to follow up his debut-day Champions League hat-trick against Fenerbahce to question Rooney's qualities at the highest level.
"There has been a lot of talk about the fact I have not scored for a while in the Champions League," said Rooney.
"Hopefully now the talking will stop and I can concentrate on trying to get more goals.
"I don't know why I had not scored. I have had chances. Maybe I should have scored on some occasions, on others the keeper has made good saves. But obviously, it is a relief to finally get the goal."
The fatigue lingering from that effort in Italy was shown at Fratton Park on Saturday, when the Red Devils crashed to a defeat which raised major question marks over their ability to hold off Chelsea on the six-game Premiership title run-in.
United's current lengthy injury list hardly helps dispel those fears.
Rooney, though, believes there is more than enough talent within the Old Trafford dressing room to ensure a positive and forceful response to the end of an unbeaten run stretching back to the loss at Arsenal in the middle of January.
"It is important the reaction from the weekend is a positive one," he said.
"We are disappointed with the weekend result but this is a different tournament.
"We have played well all season and we don't want to let ourselves down now."
is on FIRE!!! 