Wayne Rooney beating the challenge of Club Bruge’s Oscar Duarte, yesterday.

Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney ended his long goal drought with a hat-trick in their 4-0 Champions League qualifying rout of Club Bruges last night.

The England captain had not scored since a Premier League game against Aston Villa in April, a run of 10 matches and 878 minutes without finding the net.

“Obviously, I’m delighted to get the goals but it was a massive game for the club,” Rooney told reporters.

“I know my quality and what I give to the team. Thankfully, I got chances and I took them.

“As a striker you want to score. I understand because of who I am I get publicised a lot more. But we knew we had to get into the Champions League, it was vital.

“It is nice to back in there.”

Rooney netted his first goal of the season after 20 minutes with a neat finish, running on to a clever through ball from Memphis Depay.

He doubled the lead four minutes after half-time following a flowing move and grabbed his third just before the hour in Belgium courtesy of a cute pass from Juan Mata.

Ander Herrera added a fourth goal as United, 3-1 up after the first leg, eased through to the group stage of Europe’s premier club competition 7-1 on aggregate.

United could have added a fifth on 81 minutes when Rooney’s cross struck Oscar Duarte’s hand and the referee pointed to the spot. The skipper selflessly handed the ball to Javier Hernandez, but he slipped and put the spot-kick wide.

In Germany, Hakan Calhanoglu levelled the aggregate score late in the first half and Admir Mehmedi struck three minutes into the second before Lazio lost Mauricio to a red card and Karim Ballarabi re-moved all doubt with a third goal.

Bayer Leverkusen eliminated Lazio 3-1 on aggregate and head for a 10th appearance in the group stage.

Ahmed Musa’s late strike took CSKA Moscow into the group stage for the third season in a row as a vibrant second-half showing, also featuring two goals for Seydou Doumbia, saw off Sporting Lisbon 3-1 in Russia on the night and 4-3 over both legs.

Elsewhere, although a superb free-kick on the hour from Semir Stilic wiped out Astana’s lead from the first leg, Nemanja Maksimovic netted with six minutes left to book Kazakhstan’s maiden Champions League group stage berth.

BATE Borisov did just enough in Serbia to survive a late scare as they secured their place in today’s group stage draw despite a narrow 2-1 defeat to Partizan.

After defeat last week the onus was on Zoran Milinkovic’s hosts to attack but it was BATE Borisov who showed the way when Igor Stasevich fired low into the net midway through the first half.

Maksim Zhavnerchik’s own goal and Ivan Saponjic’s late volley made things close, but the Belarusian champions hung on to make it four play-off qualifications from four attempts.

Champions League – play-offs

Europa League – play-offs