Rooney hat-trick as United sail past Bruges

Louis Van Gaal handed Ander Herrera his first start of the season in place of Morgan Schneiderlin, while Michael Carrick started ahead of Bastian Schweinstiger.

From the jump United, which routinely spends more on the transfer fee of a single player than Brugge has on its entire team, controlled the game in the raucous Jan Breydel Stadium. They did, after all, have 66.1% possession and create 20 chances to Newcastle’s seven – 8 of them on target to none.

“I wasn’t anxious. If it had gone on three, four, five games more then maybe but it’s still early days”. I’ve understood since a young age, because of my name, because of who I am, it’ll get publicised a lot more. You have to do your jobs, and concentration is the key thing because I’ve been there and in the last ten minutes, teams usually lose concentration and you wear the opponent down.

Rooney completed his treble with a cool finish from Juan Mata’s pass in the 57th minute and after Bolat had denied the England captain a fourth goal, Schweinsteiger’s fine sweeping pass freed Herrera to make it 4-0.

Hans Vanaken nearly pulled a goal back for the hosts two minutes later with a dipping effort that came out off the underside of the crossbar.

“We didn’t think tonight would be as comfortable as it was, but it was vital that we went through any way we could and we fully deserved it over the two legs”.

“And he proved that this evening (Wednesday)”.

Lazio goes to Bayer Leverkusen hoping to defend a one-goal advantage and reach the main draw for the first time since the 2007-08 season.

“He can play in a nine position and a 10″, United manager Van Gaal tells news.

With the result no longer in doubt, United won a penalty in the 81st minute. “So I’m very pleased also for him“.

Rooney, meanwhile, is looking forward to leading the club in Europe’s biggest club competition after a painful one-year hiatus.

Club Brugge coach Michel Preud’homme had said before the game that his side required a “miracle” to qualify and he felt that the outcome of the tie was logical.

However, Brugge nearly pulled a goal back on half-time when Abdoulay Diaby tried to take the ball around Sergio Romero after breaking free of the United defence, but the Argentine was up to the challenge, diving well at his feet to hold up the attack before Daley Blind got back to clear.

The 38-year-old joins Stefano Denswil, Bjorn Engels, Lior Refaelov, Felipe Gedoz, Bernie Ibini and Jose Izquierdo on the sidelines, but Tom De Sutter has been passed fit to play after missing the 2-0 loss to Zulte-Waregem at the weekend through illness.