Wayne Rooney reached 200 Manchester United goals with a brace to give David Moyes a 4-2 win over Bayer 04 Leverkusen in his first Champions League group game on Tuesday.
Once again sporting a black headband to protect a facial injury he picked up last month, Rooney scored twice and made another goal as Moyes made a memorable European bow at Old Trafford.
Overseeing his first continental game since succeeding Alex Ferguson as manager, Moyes saw Rooney, his former Everton protege, give United a 22nd-minute lead.
Photo: AFP
Simon Rolfes equalized with a deflected shot in the 54th minute, but Robin van Persie’s fine volley restored United’s advantage five minutes later and further goals from Rooney and Antonio Valencia completed the job.
United fought to keep Rooney out of Chelsea’s clutches during the close-season, but when asked if he had asked to leave the club, he would only repeat: “I’m concentrating on my football.”
“I am really pleased to score 200 goals for a club like Manchester United. It is a great honor,” he added.
After an uncertain start to the season, United appear to have rediscovered their scoring touch ahead of Sunday’s trip to derby rivals Manchester City in the Premier League.
“It was a good job tonight,” Moyes told ITV. “I said several months ago Wayne Rooney could join the real greats with his goal-scoring. He could have got a hat-trick tonight.”
Leverkusen coach Sami Hyypia, another Champions League novice, saw Omer Toprak add a late goal, but it was a chastening evening for the Finn, whose side must also contend with Shakhtar Donetsk and Real Sociedad in Group A. The Ukrainians won 2-0 in San Sebastian.
“Today we lost to a better team,” the former Liverpool defender said. “We might have shown them too much respect, we were perhaps a bit nervous, and we didn’t press them enough.”
United made the breakthrough midway through the first half, Rooney dispatching a cross from Patrice Evra with a side-foot volley, but Leverkusen appeared to have twofold grounds for complaint.
Evra looked marginally offside as he crossed from the left and Valencia, backing into Leverkusen goalkeeper Bernd Leno, was clearly offside and seemed to be interfering with play when the ball left Rooney’s foot.
Nonetheless, the goal stood and Rooney went close to adding to it with a replica of his free-kick from Saturday’s 2-0 win over Crystal Palace, only to bend his shot a foot too far.
It should have been 2-0 early in the second half, but Rooney let the German side off the hook when a goal seemed certain.
After seizing on a slip by Toprak, the United No. 10 rounded Leno, but with the goal vacant and Van Persie charging in, he somehow contrived to miss both net and teammate with a low cross-shot.
Moments later, Leverkusen equalized, Rolfes curling a shot inside the left-hand post via a deflection off Michael Carrick, but although Moyes put his head in his hands, his side took just five minutes to respond.
Valencia motored into space on the right before dispatching a cross and Van Persie showed wonderful agility to meet the ball with a hip-high right-foot volley that a startled Leno could not keep out.
The hosts’ failure to clear in the 69th minute allowed substitute Lars Bender a crack at goal, but David De Gea saved smartly and, from the United goalkeeper’s resulting kick, Rooney doubled his side’s lead.
Emir Spahic could only head the ball into Rooney’s path and the England striker shortened his stride before whipping the ball past Leno at his near post to bring up a double-century of United goals.
Rooney completed his night’s work by teeing up Valencia to drill home United’s fourth in the 79th minute.
A calamitous finale saw Toprak pull a goal back with two minutes to play after De Gea flapped at a corner before Van Persie somehow missed an open goal from 2m out, but it was not enough to spoil Moyes’ night.
Carlos Alcaraz on Monday powered into the French Open second round with a resounding win to start his title defense, while world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and three-time defending women’s champion Iga Swiatek also progressed at Roland Garros. Four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz struck 31 winners in a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri and is to face Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan in round two. Alcaraz is now on an eight-match winning streak at the French Open and also took Olympic silver at Roland Garros last year, losing the final to Novak Djokovic. “The first round is never
TIGHT FINISH: Napoli only needed to do the same as or better than Inter, who won their game against Como 2-0 on the same day, leaving Napoli with a one-point lead The two players who Antonio Conte wanted more than any others secured Napoli their second Serie A title in three years on Friday. Scott McTominay scored with an acrobatic bicycle kick before halftime and Romelu Lukaku doubled the lead with a solo goal after the break in the decisive 2-0 home win over Cagliari. Conte became the first coach to win the Italian championship with three different teams. “Everyone contributed to this — but the coach most of all,” Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo said. “Napoli needed him to get back on top. He’s phenomenal.” Comparing it to his three Serie A titles won
The journey of Taiwan’s badminton mixed doubles duo Ye Hong-wei and Nicole Chan at the Malaysia Masters in Kuala Lumpur came to an end in the semi-finals yesterday after they suffered a 2-0 loss to China’s Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping. Ye, 25, and Chan, 20, teamed up last year and are currently ranked No. 23 in the world. The Taiwanese shuttlers took on China’s second seeds in the mixed doubles event, but proved no match for Feng and Huang, losing the match 10-21, 7-21. In the first half of the first game, the pairings were neck and neck at 6-7 until Ye
SSC Napoli coach Antonio Conte has dragged the team back from disaster and restored them to the top of Italian Serie A, but his future at the Scudetto winners is in doubt even after a triumphant season. The fiery 55-year-old has exceeded preseason expectations and bolstered his reputation as a serial winner by guiding Napoli to their fourth Scudetto, and second in three seasons. However, he might well be on his way in the summer after just one season at the helm as his charged relationship with Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis has simmered throughout the campaign. Conte has said