Rooney: Ronaldo is a joy

Wayne Rooney has backed Cristiano Ronaldo to maintain his remarkable scoring record as United hunt their 10th Premier League title.

The Portugal star’s match-clinching goal at Reading on Saturday was his 23rd of the campaign, equalling his tally from last season.

That puts him on course to break George Best’s club record of 32 goals for a winger in a season – and Rooney admits he is thrilled to be playing alongside the 22-year-old.

“He’s a joy to play with,” Rooney told MUTV. “He has been amazing and hopefully he can continue that until the end of the season and help us win the league.”

Ronaldo may have grabbed the headlines in recent weeks with his goalscoring exploits, but he is building on strong foundations laid by his team-mates.

Centre-back pairing Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were once again in immaculate form at the weekend, helping the Reds to their 14th clean sheet in the league.

Rooney said: “They’ve been brilliant, but not only those two – Owen (Hargreaves) and Michael (Carrick) were brilliant in front of them and Wes (Brown) and Patrice (Evra) as well.

“As a team we’re defending well and Edwin (van der Sar) and the back four in particular are helping us. We know if we keep a clean sheet, we’re going to score goals.”

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