No goals, no worries for Rooney

Instead of bubbling frustration at a game not won, Manchester United FC's players were quick to point out on Matchday 5 how satisfying it was to come away from El Madrigal having now played two matches against Villarreal CF without tasting defeat or conceding a goal. In fact, the oddity of the sides having actually shared four meetings in three years without anyone scoring was, for Wayne Rooney, no more than a detail.

Veteran maturity
Despite only turning 23 last month, Rooney is a veteran of several UEFA Champions League campaigns and having won this competition last season it is clear that an added maturity helps him accentuate the positive about a result which some might view as a negative. Indeed, the closest United came to scoring, despite Cristiano Ronaldo's five-star performance, was Rooney's second-half chance which was about to drop into the net before Joan Capdevila somehow headed it up and over the bar from an unlikely angle. The striker left Spain puzzled by the lack of goals but perfectly content with the attitude and performance shown by the reigning champions.

Better performances
"We've learned that the away games in the Champions League are neither easy to win nor simple to score in and so I'd say we can be quite happy with what we've achieved in Villarreal," said the England international. "It's unusual that we've played each other so many times without a goal but, equally, I believe that United have been the better side in most of the meetings. You also have to cope, in my opinion, with the feeling that Villarreal haven't been quite as convinced that they are going to win these matches. That makes it harder because it doesn't seem to me that they go after the victory as much as we do."

High profile
By the time Capdevila was sent off, with eight minutes remaining, United had drawn most of the sting out of the home side's attacks and all that was left was to admire the Ronaldo performance and to sympathise with the fact that the winger's work had eventually driven Capdevila to commit the foul that saw him shown the red card. "To be truthful we are beginning to expect that more and more now, because Cristiano is a big personality," admitted Rooney. "He's very high profile and seems to get a bit of treatment wherever he goes. But he's big enough and old enough to handle what people throw at him now."