Rooney hat trick, Man United back in Champions League

Ander Herrera of Manchester United celebrates scoring his goal to make the score 4-0 during the UEFA Champions League playoff second leg match between Club Brugge and Manchester United at the Jan Breydel Stadium, Bruges, Belgium, Aug 26, 2015. [Photo/IC]

When he was put through by Memphis Depay midway through the first half, it was the first genuine one-on-one chance Rooney had found himself in all season. And he took it well.

As Sinan Bolat dived at the feet of Rooney, the striker nonchalantly dinked the ball over the Turkish goalkeeper and into the net to end a wait of 878 minutes for a goal. After celebrating with teammates, Rooney kissed his hands and thrust his arms into the air.

With Bruges now needing three goals just to force extra time, the hosts were going to leave spaces at the back for United to exploit.

Depay - a scorer of two classy goals in the first leg - wasted a great chance before halftime and it was left to Rooney to finish the hosts off.

The striker finished a great team move involving Depay and Herrera with a simple sidefooted finish for his second goal, and completed his hat trick with a low shot underneath Bolat after a reverse pass from Juan Mata.

Rooney passed up two chances to complete a four-goal haul. First, he saw Bolat tip aside a chipped finish after racing through one on one and then handed penalty-taking duties to substitute Hernandez after Oscar Duarte handled a cross from Rooney.

Hernandez's standing foot slipped as he was about to strike the ball and he sent it wide of the post.

By that time, Herrera had ran onto a fine pass from Bastian Schweinsteiger, another substitute, to slot home for the fourth goal at Jan Breydelstadion.