'Funny Animal' Given Central Role Against Wolfsburg

Sir Alex Ferguson has claimed that Wayne Rooney will be played in a central role against Wolfsburg tonight, although hopefully, it isn’t as a lone striker. That formation did not work against Besiktas or Arsenal so the manager needs to change things around.

“He’s been playing more central and he’ll play centrally against Wolfsburg. But he’s a funny animal, he says he’s a good centre half. I wouldn’t bet against that,” Ferguson said. “He’s got great desire and he can’t put that down. It’s always there. There are some great footballers out there like Kaka, Ronaldo and Messi. They’re the three best players in the world and Wayne could easily get to that level with the right progress.”

After winning the title for the first time last season, Wolfsburg are currently sixth in their league, five points off leaders Hamburg. Ferguson has bigged up the chances of a German side, like Wolfsburg, winning the Champions League this season.

“Germany’s a great football nation,” he added. “It says a lot for Wolfsburg’s position and progress that they did win the league last year and they did it in a very positive way with the goalscoring form they showed. They beat Bayern Munich 5-1 with only four or five games remaining and they won their final game 4-0 – that’s emphatic. Countries like Germany are always producing clubs capable of winning the Champions League. Yes, the last few years it has been dominated by the English teams in the semi finals and finals but there is always the possibility that someone else can come in to win the Champions League. If you take the final between Porto and Monaco just a few years ago, it’s a case in point.”