Rooney Nani sends the Reds to within 2 point with city

Nani and Wayne fire in the goals as the title race continues...

Wayne wants central role

Wayne Rooney admits he may have to become more selfish to secure himself his preferred role as a central striker in Sir Alex Ferguson's blueprint.

The firebrand Merseysider is relishing the chance to line up as England's out-and-out forward against Kazakhstan this weekend, having been deployed on the left side of United's attack during the latter stages of the season.

“The position I play for England is the one I like playing most,” Rooney told a press conference. "I haven’t played that position for a while for United.

"When you're playing out on the left you have responsibilities to get back a bit more. Sometimes that takes away a bit of energy from your attacking.

"It’s the manager’s choice. I’ve always said my best position is playing up front. Maybe I need to be more selfish to get the role I want."

Rooney enjoyed his second-highest scoring season with United last term, bagging 20 goals from 49 appearances.

Rooney eyes record

Rooney wants to be a record breaker

Wayne Rooney last night admitted he wants to become the first man to score 50 England goals - and become the country's greatest record-breaker. In-form Rooney, thrilled by getting the licence to attack with England that he is denied by his left-sided role at Manchester United, arrived in Kazakhstan late on Wednesday in a rich vein of international scoring form. Sir Bobby Charlton's 49-goal tally remains the chart leader for England, 37 years after he ended his career after 106 caps. And while Rooney is behind that mark with 21 so far, he said: "Of course I would love to become the leading England goal-scorer. I'm still a long way away but it's something I am looking at and it would be a privilege if I could do that. Looking at the way my career has gone, I do think it's possible. Since I signed for United, playing in the Champions League has given me a lot of experience and that's showing in my last year for England. Now I'm enjoying playing for England more than I ever have. That's because of the way we're playing and the fact that we're winning - when you are winning you will enjoy it."
Martin Lipton, Daily Mirror

Brace yourself for déjà vu. In transfer news, widespread reports suggest Real Madrid are again going to spend the summer chasing Cristiano Ronaldo. The Daily Mirror says United will sell the winger for £75million, while The Independent claims Real have to sign Ronaldo, or else face a £26million penalty after signing a pre-contract agreement with the player's agent, Jorge Mendes, last summer.

Round up by Steve Bartram

Papers : Rooney hails Iniesta

Wayne: We're in Roo-ins
Wayne Rooney surveyed the ruins of Manchester United's Champions League dream and admitted: We lost to the best team in the world. But the heartbroken Old Trafford star refused to hail Barca's Lionel Messi and instead dubbed Andres Iniesta the world's best player. Rooney said: "It's disappointing, but I thought Barcelona were the better team tonight and deserved to win. They scored a good goal early on and Messi's was a great goal at a difficult time for us. They deserved to win. I've never played against a better team than this Barcelona. They're a brilliant team." A Samuel Eto'o toe-poke on 10 minutes and Messi's soaring header after 70 underlined Barca's superiority here in Rome. But Rooney added: "Iniesta for me is the best player in the world, he's incredible."
Neil Custis & Antony Kastrinakis, The Sun

The papers, like our message board, are packed full of post-mortems on United's failure to retain the Champions League and little of it makes happy reading (or repeating here!)

Credit where credit's due, though, and there are plenty of pundits and press-men raving about the victors Barcelona, including their former manager Terry Venables. Writing in The Sun, 'El Tel' says Lionel Messi "finally showed us what he can do... Guardiola pulled off a surprise by playing his most prized asset in the hole - and in the process probably changed the destination of the European Cup."

Round up by Adam Bostock

Rooney on fire

"This is the time of the season when you want to really be at your best and enjoy your football and I'm doing that at the moment. We're in a great position in the league and we're so close to making history [by retaining the Champions League]. We set out at the start of the season to retain both trophies and hopefully we can do that."

- Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney feels the season run-in is bringing out the best in him.

The 23-year-old has been in fine form in recent weeks despite finding himself in a different role down the left wing.

With a Champions League final to look forward to in Rome later this month and a third consecutive title within grasp, Rooney says it's vital he and his team-mates keep up the momemtum.

"This is the time of the season when you want to really be at your best and enjoy your football and I'm doing that at the moment," he said.

"We're in a great position in the league and we're so close to making history [by retaining the Champions League].

"We set out at the start of the season to retain both trophies and hopefully we can do that.

"The final will be a tough game [against Barcelona], but we just have to concentrate on ourselves and the way we play.

"If we do that and play the way we know we can then I'm sure we'll be okay."

Ours to throw away

Wayne Rooney says the title is United's to throw away after the striker inspired a stunning comeback against Tottenham.

The 23-year-old scored two and made two in the 5-2 victory at Old Trafford, while it was his defence-splitting pass which led to United's controversial first goal from the penalty spot. The victory sent the Reds three points clear of Liverpool at the Barclays Premier League summit and Rooney says the Reds are determined to stay there.

"We know we're in a great position," he told Setanta Sports. "We've got five games left and it's ours to throw away. It was very important to win against Spurs and stay top of the league with a three-point margin. It gives us great belief and confidence ahead of the Arsenal game [on Wednesday].

Despite being 2-0 down at the break, Rooney says United never lost hope and always believed one goal could lead to a hatful.

"It was a brilliant comeback. We played too slow in the first half and Tottenham caused a few problems, especially down the right.

"But even at 2-0 down we knew once we got that first goal we'd get more opportunities to score. Thankfully we took them and in the end it was quite comfortable."