Ander Herrera: Wayne Rooney still best in the world even if he doesn't score for Man Utd

Wayne Rooney ended his 452-minute goal drought in yesterday's 1-0 win against CSKA Moscow

ANDER HERRERA insists Wayne Rooney is still one of the best players in the world whether he scores or not for Manchester United.

 

Rooney ended a goal drought lasting 452 minutes with the winner against CSKA Moscow at Old Trafford last night that put United top of their Champions League group.

The header was Rooney’s seventh of the season and put him level with Denis Law on 237 goals as the second highest scorer in United’s history – now just 12 behind Sir Bobby Charlton.

But Herrera says skipper Rooney brings so much more to the table than just goals and is a strong enough character to withstand the scrutiny he has been under.

 

The Spanish midfielder said: “Wayne is one of the most important players for us, he is our leader, our captain and we are happy when he scores. But when he doesn't, he fights for the team and helps a lot, also.

“It was a very important goal but he has a very strong mind and when he doesn't score, he keeps fighting in the same way and that is important for us.

“He is one of the best players in the world, one of the stars, and he is not selfish. For us it's very important when he feels good, and if he scores, of course, it's much better for everyone. But if he doesn't score he fights in the same way

 

“I can say only what I see into the club, and what I see is that he gives everything, every day for us. When he scores, fantastic, but when he doesn't do that, he does a lot of things for the club, for the team.”

There have been suggestions from former players, including the former Barcelona great Xavi, that Rooney, who turned 30 last month, is on the wane as a striker and should drop back to the No 10 role.

But Herrera prefers to make his own judgements from what he sees at first hand in training and in matches.

“I try not to read them [the comments] too much, to create my own opinion and my opinion is clear - Wayne Rooney is one of the best.

“His trajectory is unbelievable. The way he fights and trains and the way he gives to the rest of the players his opinion, everything. Maybe the people outside see only in the pitch, but he is also very important outside for everyone.”

Ander Herrera insists he is a still a world-class player even if he doesn't score

While scoring has been a concern for United, Herrera says they should take encouragement from the fact their defensive record is so good – they have conceded only one goal in their last six games and have shut out the opposition 11 times in 19 games in all competitions this season.

He added: “That's a positive. We saw last year that Chelsea [the champions] didn't score too many goals but they didn't concede too many either so that is important when you want to do a great season. You can’t give many chances away.

“I think we controlled the game against CSKA and we only conceded one chance so that is good. We created I think 10 or 12 chances, so that's good as well. We want to control games and we did that."

 Herrera, who has become a fans’ favourite at Old Trafford since his £29m move from Athletic Bilbao 18 months ago, was aware the crowd was chanting for him to come on from the bench during the CSKA game.

“They show me their support every day,” he said. “I am very thankful for that. They give me the strength to keep fighting, to keep playing as good as possible and giving everything for this club.”