Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney celebrates scoring their first goal Reuters 

Reuters: A thumping header from Wayne Rooney ended Manchester United’s scoring drought and secured a 1-0 Champions League victory over CSKA Moscow as they went top of Group B on Tuesday.

United seemed to be heading for a fourth successive goalless draw before Rooney met a Jesse Lingard cross and sent a bullet of a header soaring past CSKA keeper Igor Akinfeev and into the roof of the net in the 79th minute.

It was the England striker’s 237th goal for the Old Trafford outfit and drew him level with Denis Law as the club’s second highest scorer, 12 behind Bobby Charlton.

Despite dominating possession throughout the encounter, United had struggled to break down the resilient Russians whose own attacking ambitions were limited to infrequent counter attacks.

United, who had previously failed to score in Premier League encounters against Manchester City and Crystal Palace as well as a League Cup clash against second tier Middlesbrough, mustered little more than half chances until Rooney’s winner.

The result left the group perfectly poised with United on seven points, one clear of VfL Wolfsburg and PSV Eindhoven, who won 2-0 at home to the Germans on Tuesday. CSKA are bottom with four.

“It is unbelievable because we created at least 12 chances tonight and had to wait a long time,” United manager Louis van Gaal told BT Sport.

“Before that they could have scored and then it is a different match. I am happy. We played well.”

United began brightly, fizzing the ball around the slick surface with intent.

Half chances

Their possession, however, counted for little in the opening 45 minutes with a succession of half chances coming to nothing as the home crowd grew increasingly restless.

Rooney, whose form had been questioned after scoring only two Premier League goals this season, flashed an effort fractionally wide after three minutes and then almost latched on to an under-hit back pass before Akinfeev cleared the danger.

CSKA, who won 2-1 at United’s neighbours Manchester City 12 months ago, were happy to keep men behind the ball and barely threatened Van Gaal’s well-drilled rearguard.

It looked like it would not be Rooney’s night when he got the ball stuck under his feet from five metres with 20 minutes remaining, just before United keeper David De Gea pulled off a superb save to deny Seydou Doumbia when he was through on goal.

“Denis Law is a legend at this club and to equal his record is a huge honour for me,” said England’s record international goal-scorer Rooney.

Having faced criticism from many quarters this season, United need only win one of their final two matches at home to PSV and away to Wolfsburg to reach the last 16.

Mueller double as formidable Bayern crush Arsenal

REUTERS: Bayern Munich dismantled Arsenal 5-1 in Champions League Group F on Wednesday after a sensational first-half performance to close on the knockout stages with two matches left.

The Bavarians struck three times in the first half through Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Mueller and David Alaba to avenge their 2-0 loss in London last month – their only defeat this season – and underline their title aspirations.

Arjen Robben, making his first appearance in the competition this season after a long injury break, added a fourth soon after coming on in the 55th minute and Mueller grabbed a late fifth. Bayern top the group on nine points.

“We did what we set out to do,” Mueller told reporters. “It was a key game because had we not won we would have to do more work in the next games. Now we are on nine points.”

“We went ahead 3-0 and we were focussed. In the second half we lost a bit of possession but that can happen if you are ahead 3-0 or 4-0.”

Injury-hit Arsenal, woeful at the back and toothless up front, pulled a goal back through Olivier Giroud but are bottom on three points after their third loss. Olympiakos are second in the group, also on nine following their 2-1 win over Dinamo Zagreb who are third on three.

Arsenal need to win their remaining games and hope for a combination of results to maintain their chances of reaching the last 16.