Van Gaal absolves shoot-out flops

Wayne Rooney and his teammates were absolved of blame by Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal, who saw his side miss a hat-trick of penalties in a shoot-out as they exited the Capital One Cup at the hands of Middlesbrough at Old Trafford.

The last spot-kick Rooney took was successfully converted to make him England’s all–time leading scorer, but his struggles at club level continued last night as Boro keeper Tomas Mejias saved from him and Ashley Young, while international colleague Michael Carrick also fired over.

Only teenager Andreas Pereira scored from 12 yards following a goalless 120 minutes.

But Van Gaal wouldn’t attribute responsibility to his three England internationals.

Of more concern to the United boss was his team’s wastefulness during the 120 minutes that preceded the penalties.

Rooney, Young and Anthony Martial were all called from the bench inside 71 minutes as the hosts failed to break down their Championship opponents. Marouane Fellaini twice missed the target with close–range headers as Boro held on to force a shoot–out.