Champions League: David Moyes hails “excellent” Wayne Rooney

David Moyes praised the performance Wayne Rooney in last night’s Champions League victory over Bayer Leverkusen.

Moyles was delighted with the whole of his Manchester United side, however singled out an “excellent” Rooney after the clubs 4-2 victory.

Rooney – labelled as “world class” by his manager – scored twice to reach 200 goals for the club, while Robin van Persie and Antonio Valencia also found the net in a vibrant team performance. 

“The performance was really good tonight and the result was great,” said Moyles.

“I think recently we’ve not scored as many goals as we would have liked but we’ve got four tonight and maybe could have scored a couple more.

“The players showed their experience out there. After Leverkusen got back at 1-1, we had to make sure that we went again and won the game.”

Rooney was the star of the show with a brace, joining Sir Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and Jack Rowley as the only players to have scored 200 times for the club, while he also set up Antonio Valencia for a magnificent fourth United goal.

“Wayne played really well tonight. He scored his goals and his pass to put Antonio in was terrific,” added Moyes.

“We want him to keep that scoring record up. I think there are only three or four Manchester United players that have ever achieved 200 goals.

“I remember saying that he could go on to become one of the all-time greats here by his goals.

“I thought his performance tonight was excellent. I think everything he did was worthy of two goals, and maybe more.

“I think you can see from the way he was moving that he’s in a good place at the moment and any forward who’s scoring goals feels good about himself.

“Any team that wants to win the Champions League needs to have several world class players – and Wayne would certainly come into that category.”

Following speculation over the summer that Rooney could be on his way out of Old Trafford, the striker reassured fans, saying: “I’ve concentrated on working hard to get my head down to get myself fit and ready for the season.

“I’m delighted with the way I’ve come back and delighted I’m back playing and scoring goals.

“The fans have been brilliant, they have been fantastic with me. It’s great the reception I get here and hopefully I can replay them with performances and goals like tonight.”