Louis van Gaal: Wayne Rooney goals "not very important"

Manchester Untied manager Louis van Gaal has played down the significance of Wayne Rooney's goal in this evening's Champions League clash with CSKA Moscow.

Rooney netted his first goal of the tournament to equal Denis Law's record for the club with a 79th-minute header, ending United's run of almost four matches without a goal, but Van Gaal insists that he is not too concerned by his captain's goal record.

"I have said in a press conference that [Rooney] is my captain, and he deserves credit," Van Gaal told BT Sport. "But also because he is my captain he has more credit off me because he is doing a lot of things for me, for the team, because he is captain. That's very important.

"Of course a striker has to score, but for me it is not very important who is scoring. We are now top of this group, we are a force in the Premier League, we are on schedule.

"I hope we will win against West Bromwich Albion but it shall be like this - we shall attack and they shall defend, and it is not easy to disorganise these kinds of teams."

United's Premier League clash with West Brom will take place at Old Trafford on Saturday.