Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Miller warns Celtic they need to be wary of more than Rooney

Celtic striker Kenny Miller insists Wayne Rooney is only one of several Manchester United stars who can hurt the Hoops in the Champions League.

The England striker has not scored in the competition for two years but has returned to prime form.

After netting for his country against Holland in a 1-1 draw in Amsterdam last week, the 21-year-old grabbed a double for the Red Devils against Sheffield United on Saturday to help the Old Trafford side maintain their lead at the top of the Barclays Premiership.

United arrived in Glasgow on the back of seven straight Premiership wins and need a victory to ensure qualification before their last Group F match against Benfica.

But Miller believes Rooney is not Sir Alex Fergusons only weapon.

The Scotland striker said: "Its not impossible to stop Rooney, a lot of teams have done it. Hes a world class player and if hes not scoring goals he can be hurting you in other ways. But theyve got so many options going forward you cant pinpoint one player to try to stop because, if you do, theres another angle. Theres (Ryan) Giggs and (Cristiano) Ronaldo, and (Louis) Saha has been absolutely on fire this year. And, at the heart of it, youve got Paul Scholes pulling the strings. Scholes is world class. He was one of the best attacking midfield players in the world two or three years ago and he is still one of the best in the game. He can pass, score goals and he can even play in that deeper role. Hes just a quality player and is one of the many players we have to keep a close eye on. You cant pinpoint one. United have been on fire since the start of the season. I saw them playing in a few games and some of the football they were playing was outstanding. I havent seen a lot of them recently to be honest but their results and the fact theyre sitting at the top of the league backs me up on that."

Celtic manager Gordon Strachan, who admitted last week that United have better players than his side, tried to bolster confidence by comparing the Bank of Scotland Premier League favourably with the Barclays Premiership.

He said: "Weve got to take heart from the players Ive got and hope we can have a right good game. We can play, weve got good imagination and weve come from behind a couple of times in the league this season. We know the SPL is not the same as the English Premiership, but theres not that great a difference. Wed be competitive in the top half of the Premiership. I think they give themselves too many pats on the back for being the best league in the world. Its all right at times, but Ive seen some dire games there as well."

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