Manchester United on ‘right road’ and into group phase, says Ander Herrera

Rooney went on to complete his treble in the second half, before Ander Herrera rounded off the scoring as United secured their place in Thursday’s draw for the group stages with a 7-1 aggregate success.

Rooney scored three times to confirm United’s passage into Pot 2 of the group stage draw, and he even gave fellow striker Javier Hernandez the chance to open his account for the season in the form of a penalty – which the Mexican worldwide promptly sent wide of the goal.

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal is satisfied with his side’s Champions League group stage draw and has already made plans for his chief opposition scout Marcel Bout to watch their opponents in action.

Louis van Gaal lost his first competitive match as Manchester United manager against Swansea City on the first day of last season and is expecting another hard game from the Welsh side on Sunday.

“I wasn’t anxious, if it was going on for three, four, five games more then maybe so but it’s early days and I knew when the chances came I’d take them”.

‘It was very important for me, a midfielder, to score and help the team but that was not the most important thing, ‘ said Herrera last night. That’s part of my job, I have to accept that.

“But I think Wayne has a very strong mentality and with his level he shall always come back and he proved that”.

While the Dutchman’s faith in his team seems unshakeable, he did admit that the Champions has changed over the years, he said: “Of course I have seen matches on the television and I think that it is the highest podium”.

“He [Herrera] started not so good, I think”, Van Gaal said.

After tour wins over Real Madrid, Liverpool and Inter Milan, Swansea brought Van Gaal back down to earth by winning at Old Trafford on the opening day of last season. Wolfsburg finished 3rd in the Bundesliga last season but at least United have avoided a long trip to Maccabi Tel Aviv or Astana. We have to be ready to play against a very good team.

Marouane Fellaini is available to play his first Premier League game this term after serving a suspension following his red card against Hull but Adnan Januzaj will miss out due to an injury sustained in midweek, van Gaal confirmed.