Champions League everything to Rooney

Wayne Rooney is "desperate" to win the Champions League this season and believes Manchester United blew their chance last term.

United looked good bets to conquer Europe after their 7-1 drubbing of tonight's opponents Roma in the quarter-finals, only to be comprehensively outplayed by eventual winners AC Milan in the second leg of the semi-final.

Rooney already has his eyes on the main prize, saying: "I'm desperate to win the Champions League having got so close last year. We didn't play the way we can in the semi-final and that cost us away against Milan. Hopefully we can go on and get to final this year."

He added: "We have got that little bit more experience and the players that have been brought in can add freshness towards the end of the season."

Five of United's last seven games have ended in 1-0 wins but Sir Alex Ferguson insists there is no problem with his strikers, despite a scarcity of goals.

Ferguson said: "All the front players have been slow to get on to their game - that's understandable with Wayne with his injury and (Carlos) Tevez missing pre-season.

"They are getting better and will continue to do that. I think the partnership is good, using Wayne as a more advanced player and Carlos dropping in.

"They have that understanding, there are moments when Wayne drops in or drifts to the side but that's not a problem for us, it keeps our flow going.

"We know that Wayne can penetrate, that Cristiano Ronaldo can penetrate, and Carlos can in a different way, so I'm happy with that and I don't think there's a problem at all. Good players with the ability they have got will soon gel."

Defenders Wes Brown and Nemanja Vidic are doubts after the pair picked up knocks at Birmingham - John O'Shea and Gerard Pique will step in if they fail fitness tests - but Owen Hargreaves is in line to make his European debut for United.