Rooney makes shock United return

Posted Thursday, April 08, 2010 by YAHOO Sport

MANCHESTER, England (AFP) - Wayne Rooney made a shock return to the Manchester United team for Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final second leg clash with Bayern Munich.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson claimed on Tuesday that Rooney had no chance of playing in the Old Trafford clash after suffering ankle ligament damage in the first leg in Germany last week.

The England forward had missed United's defeat against Chelsea at the weekend and didn't train with his team-mates on Tuesday.

But Rooney, who has scored 34 goals this season, responded well enough to his treatment to make the starting line-up as United look to overturn a 2-1 deficit.

With Rooney back, Bulgarian forward Dimitar Berbatov dropped to the bench, while Ferguson also sprang a surprise in midfield, where Darron Gibson started ahead of veterans Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes.

Brazilian right-back Rafael also came into the team in place of another experienced campaigner Gary Neville.

Bayern welcomed Dutch winger Arjen Robben back to their starting line-up after a calf injury forced the former Chelsea star to miss the first leg and the weekend win over Schalke.