Manchester United 4 Bayer Leverkusen 1: Rooney joins Law and Charlton in Reds' 200 club as double strike

Off and running. The scoreline was emphatic, but so was the performance. David Moyes showed what was needed for him to play open, expansive football at Old Trafford. He just needed to be the manager of Manchester United.
Until now Moyes has always been trying to contain the likes of Robin van Persie and, in a red shirt, Wayne Rooney. Now they are on his side. Here he let them loose in a team packed with forward intent and watched happily as the goals brought his reward.

Leverkusen have potential going forward, but United murdered an unconvincing back line. Van Persie scored one of the goals of the season, Rooney scored twice. United go into Sunday’s Manchester derby with spirits high.

Back of the net: Rooney's cushioned shot bounces up past Leverkusen keeper Bernd Leno

Rooney celebrates

Mobbed: Rooney celebrates with Chris Smalling and Michael Carrick after his opening goal

Match facts

Manchester Utd: De Gea, Smalling, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Valencia, Carrick, Fellaini, Kagawa, Rooney, van Persie.
Subs: Lindegaard, Evans, Anderson, Hernandez, Young, Fabio Da Silva, Cleverley.
Bayer Leverkusen: Leno, Donati, Spahic, Toprak, Boenisch, Can, Reinartz, Rolfes, Sam, Kiessling, Son.
Subs: Palop, Wollscheid, Bender, Derdiyok, Hilbert, Oztunali, Kruse.
Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)

The game turned on its head in the space of two minutes, and then turned again. Already leading 1-0, United had a wonderful chance to wrap the game up when Omar Toprak slipped on the ball and let Rooney through with only goalkeeper Bernd Leno to beat. Rooney ran it past him but with Van Persie screaming to be allowed to convert the tap-in, went for glory instead and shot at an acute angle across the face of goal. The decision so surprised Van Persie he did not even lunge at it. It is fair to say he was not best pleased.
From the next counter-attack, disaster for Moyes. Sidney Sam, Leverkusen’s best forward, carried the ball the best part of 50 yards and the Germans applied pressure around the area. Son Heung-min laid the ball back to captain Simon Rolfes and he struck a beautiful curling shot which clipped Michael Carrick on its path to goal, leaving David de Gea with no chance.

It all started so well: Rooney goes around Leverkusen keeper Leno during the second half

... but Rooney misses the open goal and sends his shot well wide of the far post with Van Persie unmarked

What did I do? Rooney holds his head in his hands after his extraordinary miss

Agony: David Moyes can't believe Rooney has missed, and neither can Sir Alex Ferguson (below) in the stands

Agony: David Moyes can't believe Rooney has missed, and neither can Sir Alex Ferguson (below) in the stands

A draw would be an inauspicious start for the Moyes era in Europe, but class came to the rescue. Leverkusen had only been on level terms for five minutes when Van Persie intervened. Antonio Valencia broke down the right, crossed and the Dutchman pivoted in the air with the ball behind him to strike an overhead volley that left Leno nonplussed. He should have done better, but perhaps he was just taken by surprise. Brilliance does that sometimes.
What followed was the icing for Moyes and United. With 20 minutes remaining, De Gea delivered a long goal-kick which was read poorly by Emir Spahic for Leverkusen and headed back towards his own goal. Rooney pounced on it, drew the hapless Leno, and finished smartly at his near post. Now nobody would be talking about that miss.
The fourth goal was a United counter-attack so classic one half-expected to look to the touchline and see another Scotsman doing his granddad dance of celebration. A Leverkusen move broke down, substitute Ashley Young sped along the left flank, found Rooney inside and he switched it to Valencia (below) on the right, whose shot was low and powerful. Seamless United. Just like old times.
Moyes will want to have a word about the woeful goalkeeper and marking that allowed Toprak to scored a second for Leverkusen with two minutes remaining — and Van Persie then complemented the goal of the season with the miss of it — but this remained United’s night. The dawn of a new era, but as if the old one had never ended.

What a finish: Robin van Persie (left) leaps to hook in a superb volley to restore United's lead

What a finish: Robin van Persie (left) leaps to hook in a superb volley to restore United's lead

Dutch of class: Van Persie salutes the Old Trafford crowd after his superb volleyed goal

It is quite amazing to consider that this was Manchester United’s first match in Europe without Sir Alex Ferguson in charge since March 20, 1985. A new BBC soap opera called EastEnders was one month old.
More remarkable still is that a United team including Paul McGrath, Bryan Robson, Mark Hughes, Gordon Strachan and  Norman Whiteside — all of whom would have a reasonable chance of making the team today — should have gone out on penalties against Videoton of Hungary in the UEFA Cup quarter-final.
Ferguson, in time, took them away from all that; the terrors, the disappointment, in Europe. So the pressure on David Moyes last night could not be overstated. Lose here, and the old fear would come back. Does he have the conviction?  Do the players believe in him? His relief when Rooney opened the scoring after 22 minutes was  obvious to all.
Moyes leapt from his seat, his face a picture of elation. With good  reason. Until that point, chances had not exactly been plentiful. United’s passing was often sloppy and awry and the crowd subdued as a result. The tension could be felt. The fans want to get behind Moyes, they know they need to get behind Moyes, but they also want to see the evidence that their faith is justified. A home win over Crystal Palace is the bottom-line requirement. It is on nights like this that the manager must show his mettle