Fergie allays Rooney fears

Sir Alex Ferguson insists Wayne Rooney suffered no long–term damage as Manchester United bowed out of the Champions League on away goals last night.

Ferguson took a calculated gamble to risk Rooney’s ankle injury against Bayern Munich at Old Trafford and confirmed afterwards his star striker had aggravated the problem during a 3–2 win that condemned United to an exit from the competition.

Rooney is now likely to miss Sunday’s trip to Blackburn, the start of a five–match title run–in in which Ferguson believes his side cannot drop a single point if they are to stand a chance of retaining their Premier League crown.

But the United boss is confident his 34–goal forward will be fit for the derby trip to Manchester City on April 17.

Ferguson must find a way of raising his troops after they failed to overcome the 49th–minute dismissal of young defender Rafael, which he felt was pivotal.

United made a flying start, with Darron Gibson and Nani putting them ahead in the tie after just seven minutes.

When the Portugal winger added another late in the first–half, it seemed United would canter into the semi–finals.

Instead, Ivica Olic netted just before the break and once Rafael departed soon after the restart, United had their backs to the wall.

It took a wonder strike from Arjen Robben to send them through, United not having the energy to mount any kind of response.