Rooney and Park take post-Milan plaudits
Reuters - Wednesday 10 March 2010, 23:32
MANCHESTER - Sir Alex Ferguson paid his
expected tribute to two-goal Wayne Rooney after Manchester
United's 4-0 thrashing of AC Milan on Wednesday but also had
special praise for tireless midfielder Park Ji-sung.
Rooney, who scored twice in the 3-2 San Siro victory that
put United in such a commanding position, weighed in with two
more at Old Trafford as United swept into the Champions League
quarter-finals to stay on course for a third successive final.
NEWS: Rooney double dumps out Milan
Park, who will line up for South Korea at the World Cup
starting in June, scored the third with a rare goal after an
hour - having briefly taken a break from his completely
effective man-marking job on Andrea Pirlo - and Darren Fletcher
put the icing on the cake with a late header.
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"It was a fantastic night for us," Ferguson told reporters.
"Wayne Rooney's performance was just a continuation of his
performances for the last two or three months, just sensational,
unbelievable.
"The key tonight was Park and Rooney. Park played a game of
sacrifice with discipline and intelligence that won us the
game."
Rooney opened the scoring with another powerful header after
13 minutes to swing the tie heavily United's way and Ferguson
said his practice at that discipline had paid off.
"His movement in the box has improved this season, he's
practiced a lot more, he does heading sessions after training
and I think you get your rewards," he said.
The striker, upon whom England's World Cup hopes rest, then
showed lung-bursting ambition to be first to Nani's cross a
minute into the second, bringing lavish praise from Milan coach
Leonardo.
"I think that Rooney is still young but he is a very
complete player, he's fast, strong and scores a lot of goals,"
said the Brazilian.
"He's fast over short and long distances, he's a very, very
good player and is playing in a system that for him is perfect.
On the counter-attack, he's incredible."
Leonardo said the damage in the tie had been done in the
first leg and with his team suffering more injuries ahead of
Wednesday's game they faced a virtually impossible task.
"It was always going to be hard after losing the first leg
and conceding a goal so early made our comeback even more
difficult," he said.
"But one thing we can't deny is the powerful and strong
performance United put in. "We met a team who are in extremely
good form."
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