Goalscorer Preview - Rangers v Manchester United: Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney has been told by Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson that he will start the Champions League match against Rangers.

This will be Rooney’s first start for United since he declared that he wanted to leave the club before changing his mind and signing a new contract. It is expected that he will get a lot of verbal abuse during this game from both sets of supporters after there were a few jeers during the Premier League game against Wigan Athletic at Old Trafford.

However, if anything Rooney is going to thrive on this occasion. He is being told to get on with it by his manager and he always seems to rise to the occasion when United backs are against the wall. He looks a very good value price at 4/1 to bag the first goal of this game and 11/8 to score at any time at Ibrox.

What makes Rooney so useful for this game is that he has a big enough presence to be able to command the United attack. Ferguson can put him up top and not have to worry about one section of the team. This allows United to form a five man midfield that will stop Rangers from pressing forward.

The match will also provide Rooney with much needed match minutes he can use to improve his match fitness. He had more than one chance to score against Wigan after coming off the bench and the longer he plays the more of these chances he is going to convert.

Rooney has scored only one goal so far in the Premier League season and that was a penalty. He is yet to get off the mark in the Champions League but these supposedly poor statistics should not convince anyone that Rooney is a bad player. A bucket load of goals are just around the corner.

Rooney scored five times in the Champions League last season and there is a very good but outside chance that he could match this tally with a good run of form. A very high price is available for Rooney to be top scorer in the champions League this season, he is 100/1.