Gaffer Sets Rooney A Target Of 40 Goals

Man United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has set Wayne Rooney a target of scoring 40 goals this season. After breaking the 30 barrier last night against AC Milan, Rooney’s next target is the big 40.

Two seasons ago winger Cristiano Ronaldo scored a massive haul of 42 goals, but Sir Alex isn’t going to be greedy, he would only like another 10 goals this season from Rooney.

"I am delighted he has got to 30," said Sir Alex.
"That is what I wanted. But he is there now.

"We have nine league games left and hopefully five European matches, so that is 14 in total. If he gets a goal a game he will do it.

"But I am not greedy. I would be happy if he got to 40."

I would love to see Rooney beat Ronaldo’s tally of 42 goals, not because I’m bitter because Ronaldo left but because I believe he deserves it. Over recent season’s when we had Ronaldo, Rooney has been so unselfish, it would be great to see him get that amount of goals.

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Hargreaves WON'T Play For United's Reserves Tomorrow

Sir Alex Ferguson revealed last week that Owen Hargreaves in pencilled in to play for United’s reserves against Manchester City tomorrow. Hargreaves is no longer pencilled in to play, due to training plans.

Has Hargreaves training dramatically changed since last week?

Man United have stressed that Hargreaves hasn’t suffered yet another injury setback, but he won’t play tomorrow.

It doesn’t make sense to me, if Hargreaves isn’t injured then he needs to get match fit. The only way he is going to get match fit is by playing games.

I suppose we will just have to wait and see what happens with Hargreaves. It’s just a shame it hear after United fans are eagerly awaiting his return.

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Manchester United 4-0 AC Milan

This evening Man United have progressed to the quarter finals of the Champions League after an impressive 4-0 win over AC Milan (7-2 on aggregate).

Wayne Rooney returned to the side after missing out on the 1-0 win over Wolves due to injury. There was a media circus around David Beckham ahead of the game, but he had to start the game on the bench.

United were never going to sit back and let Milan attack for 90 minutes so it wasn’t much of a surprise when it was United who had the games first few chances. Firstly Rooney blasted the ball over the bar, not long after that it was followed by Gary Neville having a crack, which wasn’t too far away but still went over the bar.

United had got off to a great start, we looked comfortable on the ball but Milan did have a few good opportunities to go ahead. Andrea Pirlo saw his free-kick helped on by Luis Nani, right into the path of Ronaldinho who’s header fell just wide of Edwin Van Der Sar’s post.

This was then followed by an opportunity for Klass Jan Huntelaar after he found some space in the penalty area, his first touch was too heavy and the situation was dealt with.

Milan’s hopes of going through took a big blow 13 minutes in courtesy of yet another Rooney headed goal. Neville’s cross in from the right was nodded past Christian Abbianti.

With a 4-2 aggregate score line only 13 minutes in, it only got worse for the visiting team.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s half time message was to go and get another goal, two minutes into the second half and United did have a second, another from Rooney.
His 30th goal of the season came after some good work by Nani down United’s left. Nani’s wonderful ball to Rooney only had to be touched past the keeper and it was in the back of the net.

The second goal didn’t change things; Milan still needed to score three, which is a very difficult task against United let alone at Old Trafford.

With an hour played, United had a third, Scholes ball in to Park looked like it had got the better of him, the South Korean managed to stay on his feet and slot the ball past the Milan keeper for United’s third.

Milan had no chance of getting back into the tie but there was time for another goal and the moment everyone had been waiting for. With 64 minutes on the clock, Beckham made his Old Trafford return for the first time since leaving in 2003. He came on to a standing ovation, his first few touches were jokily booed by the United fans and after the game, he had an even better standing ovation from the fans.

Rooney may have been on a hat-trick but after the recent injury he picked up and the score line, he was brought off and replaced by Dimitar Berbatov with 25 minutes remaining. Gary Neville was also brought off at the same time, he was replaced by Rafael Da Silva.

Later on in the game Sir Alex decided to bring off Scholes, who was on a yellow card, Darron Gibson replaced him with just over 15 minutes to go. Gibson came close to bagging United’s fourth. Nani’s low ball into the box was flicked on by Antonio Valencia for Gibson, who blazed the ball over the bar.

United weren’t finished at three, there was time for one more. With three minutes left remaining, Rafael’s cross into the area was headed past Abbiati by an unmarked Fletcher.

The game finished 4-0 (7-2 on aggregate) to United, it was a fantastic win for United. I did expect Milan to threaten more than they did but apart from a few times, United weren’t really troubled that often.

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Manchester United Vs AC Milan Preview

After an undeserved 3-2 lead after the first leg, Man United take on AC Milan at Old Trafford for a place in the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League.

After missing the 1-0 win against Wolves, Wayne Rooney should be fit to start tomorrow after taking part in training. Wes Brown on the other hand will be out between 4-6 weeks, not the expected four months.

"He [Rooney] was extremely doubtful, but he's shown a rapid improvement since Saturday morning and he's okay," Sir Alex Ferguson said in a news conference earlier today.

"Unfortunately Wes has had a career blighted by long term injuries and he's got another one. He's broken a bone in his foot and will be out for four to six weeks. I hope we can get him back for some of the season."

Michael Carrick did take part in training today but he won’t be able to take part tomorrow due to a late red card against AC Milan in the first leg.

Man United squad: Edwin Van der Sar, Tomasz Kuszczak; Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Jonny Evans, Rafael Da Silva, Patrice Evra, Gary Neville, Ritchie De Laet; Ji-Sung Park, Paul Scholes, Gabriel Obertan, Darron Gibson, Antonio Valencia, Luis Nani, Darren Fletcher; Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Mame Biram Diouf.

AC Milan have also had some good team news- Alexandre Pato has travelled and should play a part tomorrow after recovering quicker than expected from a hamstring injury.

David Beckham is returning to Old Trafford as a player since he left in 2003, which obviously means there is a media circus around Beckham right now (even more than usual).

"It is a massive challenge," Beckham said today.

"To win at Old Trafford is a really big ask, but I love the prospect of big challenges and if I'm given the chance to play and prove what I can still do then that would be a great test for me and the team."

Milan’s Brazilian manager Leonardo had this to say about Beckham: "I think that for him it's very special to have the opportunity to play against United with all his history here. He's someone very professional and he's very important for the group. For us he's very important and to have him in situations like this, he can help us. He will be able to cope with the situation and his presence is always important for us.

"Our confidence comes from our performances and even from the first leg there were positives for us. This is not about tactics, it's about the collective and what we have achieved this season has been down to the collective effort."

We all know that it will be difficult tomorrow, if we hadn’t let in that late goal and it had stayed 3-1 then it would have been a lot harder for Milan but they do have a chance.

Predicted Man United starting XI- Van Der Sar, Rafael, Vidic, Ferdinand, Valencia, Scholes, Fletcher, Gibson, Nani and Rooney.

Predicted result- Man United 2-2 AC Milan ( 5-4 on aggregate)

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Wayne Rooney Fit, Wes Brown Injured??

This season has been a nightmare for Sir Alex Ferguson with all the injuries United have had, especially in defence. It looks like the defensive injury curse has struck again. 

United’s in-form striker Wayne Rooney was a doubt for the massive second leg Champions League clash against AC Milan this Wednesday. The good news is that Rooney will be able to play due to the condition not as serious as first thought.

Rooney has been suffering with an inflamed kneecap tendon, which will go within three weeks but it isn’t serious enough to stop him playing.

So we get a bit of good news, well actually it is very good news but that hasn’t lasted long. Reports today are suggesting that Wes Brown may have suffered a broken metatarsal in his left foot.

If this is true then not only would this rule him out for around three months but it will probably mean that Brown will miss the World Cup this summer. It was very likely he would have been chosen in the England squad.

Nothing has been confirmed yet, that is expected to happen tomorrow.

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