Manchester United and England star Wayne Rooney hopes to continue improving in order to reach a similar iconic status to that of David Beckham.

The lavish praise afforded to Rooney this season has hit new levels after the striker scored twice in the UEFA Champions League demolition of AC Milan in midweek to take his tally through the 30-goal barrier.

However, the 24-year-old does not think he is yet at the legendary level of on-loan Milan midfielder Beckham, formerly of United, who received standing ovations when he entered and left the field at Old Trafford.

Rooney would be content if he receives only half the adulation of his England team-mate, but, as he prepares for Sunday’s Premier League meeting with Fulham, he also hopes that time is on his side.

“David Beckham was a great servant for this club and we were all delighted with the reception,” said Rooney.

“I have plenty of years ahead of me but if I can get half the plaudits he has I will be very happy.”

Speculate

Meanwhile, Rooney refuses to speculate on reaching Cristiano Ronaldo’s phenomenal 42-goal total from two years ago.

“I am delighted with 30 goals. Hopefully I can kick on from here and try to get more,” he added.

Rooney also has a novel explanation for why he is scoring so many goals with his head this season.

“It’s coming off my bald patch and that’s helping me score,” he said. “I have been working on my heading a lot and thankfully it’s paying off.”

Man. Utd v Fulham. Click here to bet.

Liverpool fell to a 1-0 defeat to Lille in the first leg of their last 16 Europa League encounter in France.

Eden Hazard scored the only goal of the game five minutes from time to condemn Liverpool to a second defeat in four days.

The game looked to be heading for a draw until Hazard’s free-kick wide on the left evaded everyone inside the box and ended up going into the far corner of the net.

Liverpool were far from their best with Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel both going close in the first half.

For Liverpool – unbeaten in France since a 1-0 Champions League defeat to Monaco in November 2004 – it was the worst possible result coming so soon on the back of a woeful performance at Wigan on Monday.

Their difficult task was outlined to them in the first minute as Lille came out in no mood to admire their more illustrious opponents as Yohan Cabaye forced Jose Reina into a save within 38 seconds.

One of the most intriguing battles was between winger Hazard and Emiliano Insua, who was destroyed on a regular basis by Wigan’s Charles N’Zogbia.

The 19-year-old Belgian struck an early blow by skipping past his opponent and drilling a cross through the six-yard area but no team-mate was close enough to take advantage.

Lille were more Arsenal than Wigan in their approach – despite their heavily-sanded patchy pitch – and passed the ball around with ease to often leave their opponents chasing shadows.

However, for all their possession they looked like they were missing top scorer Gervinho, the Ivorian who was sidelined by injury.

Bizarrely, Liverpool had the best two chances of the first half.

Great chance

Babel should have given the visitors the lead in the 26th minute after a neat exchange with Torres but shot too close to Mickael Landreau and the goalkeeper deflected the effort with his legs.

Hazard was proving Lille’s best outlet and his cross saw Pierre-Alain Frau deflect a shot over after being pressured by Jamie Carragher.

Gerrard responded with a dipping 35-yard strike just over Landreau’s crossbar before, in the 41st minute, Landreau produced a brilliant low save to repel Torres’ close-range header from Johnson’s deep cross.

Hazard had the ball in the net soon after half-time but was flagged offside.

Liverpool at least began the second half better than they had the first and six minutes after the restart Lucas volleyed Torres’ headed flick-on wide.

Lille, by contrast, had lost some of their attacking verve as they were drawn into a more attritional contest unsuited to their style.

On the hour Babel had a fierce shot parried away by Landreau, before Insua was booked for a foul on Hazard as he threatened to break away.

Five minutes later Reina allowed a long-range shot from Frau slip through his fingers but fortunately for the Liverpool goalkeeper it ballooned behind for a corner.

Booking

Torres was then booked for his persistent complaints to referee Claus Bo Larsen.

Cabaye drilled a dipping strike inches over Reina’s crossbar before he was replaced by Stephane Dumont, with Albert Riera coming on for Babel with 17 minutes remaining.

Hazard went down in the area under Carragher’s challenge with seven minutes to go but Larsen waved away protests.

However, a minute later the winger made sure when he curled in a free-kick which missed everyone in front of Reina, who could only watch as the ball crept into the far corner.

And it could have been far worse had substitute Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s shot not hit the post and gone wide.

David Trezeguet scored the decisive goal as Juventus demonstrated their Euopean pedigree to power to a 3-1 first leg victory over Fulham in their Europa League round of 16 clash at the Stadio Olimpico.

Fulham were second best for most of the first half and found themselves 2-0 down thanks to goals from Nicola Legrottaglie and Jonathan Zebina.

A deflected goal from Dickson Etuhu gave the Cottagers an undeserved foothold in the game, but Trezeguet struck on the stroke of half-time to restore Juve’s two-goal advantage.

Roy Hodgson’s men tried to find another vital away goal in the second period, but the Italian side kept them at bay and will carry a significant advantage ahead of the second leg next week.

Hodgson handed Paul Konchesky his first start in almost two months in the place of cup-tied Nicky Shorey while Clint Dempsey, who picked up a serious knee injury in January, was a surprise inclusion on the substitutes’ bench.

Alberto Zaccheroni made four changes to the Juventus side that beat Fiorentina last weekend, among them World Cup winners Fabio Cannavaro and Fabio Grosso.

Hodgson admitted before kick-off his side were playing one of the biggest matches in the club’s history and they soon looked out of their depth against a fluent Juve side dripping with class.

The Old Lady, currently fifth in Serie A, began with a fluid passing game and Mark Schwarzer soon found his goal under attack when he reacted well to tip Trezeguet’s goal-bound strike around his left hand post.

Power

The Australian was beaten seconds later though as Legrottaglie found his way through a packed penalty box to power a close range header past the keeper from the resulting corner.

The Bianconeri continued to threaten the Cottagers’ box and the front three of Antonio Candreva, Diego and Trezeguet were proving to be too much of a handful for the Fulham midfield, who struggled to get possession.

Zebina made it 2-0 when he beat two Fulham players, cut in off the right and fired an 18-yard shot past Schwarzer and off the post into the net.

Fulham top scorer Bobby Zamora looked frustrated and isolated up front but he won the free-kick that put the Cottagers momentarily back in the tie.

Davies whipped a free-kick on the edge of the box after a foul on the former Spurs hitman and the ball fell to Etuhu who slotted the ball past an off-balance Alex Manninger via a deflection.

Sensing an equaliser, the travelling fans urged on Hodgson’s men and Brede Hangeland and Zoltan Gera were guilty of firing close-range efforts straight at Manninger.

Schwarzer then had to pull off a fantastic one-handed save but Juve went 3-1 ahead when Trezeguet fired past the Fulham stopper on the stroke of half-time after his original shot smacked against the woodwork.

Aaron Hughes, who was captaining the side in the absence of Danny Murphy, pulled off a crucial challenge on Trezeguet inside the box at the start of the second half as Juve looked for a fourth.

Creativity

Hodgson’s side lacked creativity and the Fulham boss looked for fresh impetus from Dempsey, who came on for Davies to make his first appearance since hobbling off against Blackburn in January.

A deliberate handball brought a booking for Legrottaglie and gave Fulham a free-kick from 20 yards out but Damien Duff’s curling cross was expertly cut out by Cannavaro.

Former Liverpool player Mohamed Sissoko replaced the solid Christian Poulsen in midfield with 15 minutes left.

Zamora won a corner for the Cottagers with eight minutes left but Jonathan Greening’s dangerous cross was cut out by substitute Vincenzo Iaquinta.

Dempsey fired Fulham’s last meaningful effort wide to ensure that the first meeting between the two sides ended in a 3-1 defeat, leaving Hodgson’s men with much work to do in the second leg next Thursday.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter has defended their decision to throw out the idea of introducing goal-line technology.

Last week, Fifa – with the support of the Welsh and Northern Irish Football Associations – voted against introducing the goal-line technology when the matter was raised at the meeting of the sport’s International Football Association Board (IFAB) last week.

Indeed, Fifa ruled that they would no longer be pursuing the idea of using technology in the game.

Blatter has now revealed the main reasons were cost and the fact it could not be universally rolled out.

“The application of modern technologies can be very costly, and therefore not applicable on a global level,” Blatter stated.

“Many matches, even at the highest level, are not even televised. For example, we have close to 900 preliminary matches for the Fifa World Cup, and the same rules need to be applied in all matches of the same competition.

“The rules need to be the same for all association football matches worldwide.”

Other areas

Blatter also said that goal-line technology would have led to other areas being looked at, and that was something they wanted to avoid.

“If the IFAB had approved goal-line technology, what would prevent the approval of technology for other aspects of the game?” Blatter said.

“Every decision in every area of the pitch would soon be questioned.

“No matter which technology is applied, at the end of the day a decision will have to be taken by a human being.

“It is often the case that, even after a slow-motion replay, ten different experts will have ten different opinions on what the decision should have been.”

Blatter also believes fans debating decisions is part of the game.

“If play were to be stopped to take a decision, it would break up the rhythm of the game and possibly deny a team the opportunity to score a goal,” he said.

“It would also not make sense to stop play every two minutes to review a decision, as this would go against the natural dynamism of the game.”

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez is confident his side can still progress in the Europa League despite going down to Lille in the first leg of their last 16 encounter.

Eden Hazard’s goal five minutes from time when his free-kick sailed over the Liverpool defence and past a static Jose Reina inside the far post just when it seemed the visitors had weathered the storm.

But it could have been far worse had substitute Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s shot not hit the post and gone wide late on.

Benitez had called for a reaction from his players following Monday’s disappointing defeat to Wigan and he felt they had done that.

“It was an improvement from the last game. The players’ reaction has been very positive,” said Benitez.

“I am disappointed with the result but really pleased with the effort of the players. They were fantastic today.

“It was against a good team on a difficult pitch. The reaction has been good.

“I think Lille started really well. We knew they had pace – you can watch videos but until you see them on the pitch you don’t see the pace they have.

“It was difficult to stop them but little by little we had more control.

“When we had that control and were going forward we conceded the goal.”

Despite conceding plenty of possession to their opponents Liverpool could easily have been 2-0 up at half-time after Ryan Babel and Fernando Torres were both denied by Lille keeper Mickael Landreau.

Benitez admitted that those missed opportunities cost them and could have put a completely different perspective on the match.

Chances

“When you play away you have to score when you have chances. To score an early goal you can manage the game but we worked hard today,” added Benitez.

“To have two or three chances to score and then concede a [goal to a] free-kick…we have to be positive.

“It is clear, particularly in this competition, you have to score away because it is an advantage.

“We were just not strong enough today but there is still 90 minutes to play.

“I am confident we can beat anyone at Anfield on our day with the fans behind us.

“In every top side, especially when you are not having a good season, every game is important.

“We have to be ready for Monday’s Premier League match against Portsmouth and to win and then be ready for 90 minutes in the Europa League.”

Worthy winners

Lille coach Rudi Garcia felt his side were worthy winners.

“In European competitions winning 1-0 is always a good result,” said Garcia.

“But Liverpool still managed to create some opportunities and we had a goalkeeper who made two or three really great saves.

“I think we deserved to win tonight. I am satisfied with what we showed and we will do everything we can to qualify.

“To beat Liverpool, who were the favourites when the draw was made, is good.

“But we will need to score in the second leg, we can’t go there and play for a 0-0.”

The Red Knights group has seen its bid to gain control of Manchester United receive a shot in the arm with confirmation a leading global investment bank has agreed to advise on a possible acquisition.

Wednesday’s night demolition job on AC Milan was played out against a backdrop of supporter unrest as repeated chants against the Glazer family were aired inside Old Trafford.

The Glazers, through chief executive David Gill, have said it is business as usual and that they have no intention of selling despite United being over £700million in debt.

Investment back Nomura will work closely with the Red Knights, the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust and other potential investors to “coordinate and formulate the proposal to be put to the Glazer family”.

The Nomura team will be led by Guy Dawson and Andrew McNaught, both of whom advised the Board of Manchester United plc when the club was sold to the Glazer family in 2005.

Nomura is beginning its role by contacting the many expressions of financial support the Red Knights have received to date.

A spokesman for the Red Knights has told Sky Sports News there are now “up to 70 expressions of interest” from wealthy investors.

Beckham boost

The Red Knights group could not have been handed a more favourable piece of publicity on the night, as returning old boy David Beckham donned a green and gold scarf to a rapturous reception.

Protesters against the Glazers have adopted the green and gold colours and they have been highly visible at United matches in recent weeks.

“I’m a Man United fan. I saw the scarf there. I put it round my neck, it’s the old colours of Man United, that’s all I knew,” Beckham said.

“To be honest it’s (the protest) not my business. I’m a Manchester United fan. I support the club. I always have done and I always will do.

“It’s nothing to do with me the way everything is run, that’s to do with other people but I’m a Man United fan and I support the team. I will always support them.”

Barclays Prem 2009/10 Win Outright: Man Utd 6/4

Wayne Rooney has been tipped to go from strength to strength this season after hitting the 30-goal mark.

The Manchester United striker reached the landmark with a brace in Wednesday’s 4-0 UEFA Champions League win over AC Milan, his 35th start of the season.

Rooney’s tally is already his best-ever for a season having eclipsed his previous best of 23 during the 2006/07 campaign.

And with nine league games left and United into the Champions League quarter-finals, the 24-year-old England man has now set his sights on topping the 42-goal haul ex-United star Cristiano Ronaldo managed in the 2007/08 season.

“If he keeps going the way he is then he definitely will,” United midfielder Darren Fletcher told Sky Sports.

“I don’t think Wayne’s the type of player to pass up on this opportunity now, he’s going to push on.

“He’s a determined player and we hope he pushes on because we’re still fighting for the Premier League and the Champions League.

Challenge

“Let’s see if he can get to 40, and I’m sure the manager will keep challenging him as well.”

United captain Gary Neville added: “Hopefully he can score every game until the end of the season but more importantly we hope he scores crucial goals that win us matches.

“His performances and goals have been fantastic for us and we need to keep him fit going into this run-in.

“It’s a great moment for himself, the way he’s playing. He’s confident and he’s scoring goals. We just need to keep him fit now and keep him out there.”

AC Milan coach Leonardo has also hailed Rooney after seeing his side torn to shreds by the burly forward in continental competition.

Complete player

Wednesday’s double made it 14 goals in 11 games for Rooney, with the England star scoring a glut of goals with his head, including the opener against Milan.

“He’s reached his best level and he’s one of the best players in the world at the moment,” said Leonardo.

“This year he’s scored a lot of goals in different ways, that’s why I think he’s the complete player – he’s very strong, very fast.

“He’s one of the best in the world, if not the best at the moment,” he added.

Champions League Top Goalscorer 09/10: Rooney, W. 7/2

Rafa Benitez has told his underperforming Liverpool side to stop playing the blame game and unite behind the collective cause.

The Reds’ manager felt some of his players were pointing fingers after Hugo Rodallega scored the only goal in Monday’s woeful defeat at Wigan.

That was a major setback to Liverpool’s chances of clinching fourth spot in a stuttering campaign.

And ahead of their Europa League game against Lille on Thursday, Benitez has called for greater unity within his squad.

“I don’t think it is right to suggest there is any lack of trust between the players,” he said.

“You can look at last season as an example of that when these same players were doing well, playing with confidence and winning games and there was not a problem.

“But against Wigan the keeper (Jose Reina) was blaming the defenders for something that was wrong and the defenders were blaming the keeper.

Wrong message

“It happens in games but I don’t like it. If you are showing your disappointment with that sort of body language it is sending out the wrong message.

“It is not positive and I don’t want to see this sort of reaction.

“I accept that each player is different but it is important to show leadership qualities and the right approach to your team-mates.

“I have told them I want an improvement and that if an error is made the person responsible must be kept on board.”

Liverpool travel to France knowing they face another stern test in the last-16 first leg at Lille’s Metropole ground.

Les Dogues have lost just twice there in Ligue 1 this season and scored 25 goals in their last nine league games at home.

Johnson return

Liverpool defender Glen Johnson made his first appearance since late December as a substitute against Wigan and could start at Lille after recovering from a knee injury.

“We know they are going to have some players with pace in certain areas,” said the England World Cup hopeful.

“They’re well-organised and will work hard, and we know they are playing very well at home.

“I’ve been out for a while but I feel really good, although I’m just getting my match fitness back.”

Lille v Liverpool Correct Score: Liverpool 2-1 17/2

Manchester United insist Owen Hargreaves’ withdrawal from their reserve match on Thursday is not a setback in his comeback from injury.

The England international was due to make his long-awaited return at Altrincham’s Moss Lane, but he will no longer feature in the game.

The former Bayern Munich man has not played for the Red Devils since September 2008 with a series of knee problems keeping him on the sidelines.

United insists Hargreaves has not suffered a fresh problem and that the timing of the reserve fixture no longer works within his schedule.

“This definitely isn’t another injury setback,” a spokesman told the club’s official website.

“It just doesn’t fit in with Owen’s training schedule.”

Man. Utd 1/4, Draw 4/1, Fulham 14/1