Rangers: 0 - United :1

Sir Alex Ferguson hailed Braveheart, Wayne Rooney, as the England striker immediately began paying back his bumper new deal at United.

Rooney’s 87th minute penalty secured a 1-0 win against Rangers as United booked their place in the knockout phase of the Champions League.

It was his first goal since the controversy over his new five-year contract at Old Trafford, making him the highest paid player in the club’s history on around £160,000 a week.

And it will go a long way to winning round supporters still bitter over his threat to quit the club last month.

Ferguson said: “It took courage to take the penalty kick. It wasn’t an easy night, he missed a couple of chances, but that’s what we expect with the rustiness in his game. I’m pleased for him.”

Rooney showed nerves of steel to fire past Allan McGregor in the Ibrox cauldron after Fabio was fouled by Steven Naismith.

But he admits it will take time for fans to forgive him after he came so close to quitting United, questioning their ambition.

“Not all the fans are going to want to be singing my name all the time or going to want to be cheering me all the time and I fully accept that and understand that,” he said. “But I have to go out and prove to the fans that I am here to stay and I want to work and I want to win things at this club.

“Only I can say how I feel and I know 100% it was nothing to do with money. Once I sat down and spoke with the manager, spoke with the owners, they told me how the club was moving forward. The contract negotiations lasted two hours. If it was about money I'd be sitting down for days, months trying to sort that out.”

Rooney also insisted his relationship is as strong as ever with Ferguson, saying: “In terms of any falling out with the manager, there's been no falling out whatsoever.”

And Ferguson is convinced his star striker will have no problem building bridges with fans.

“I don’t think that will be an issue,” he said. “Whenever he scores he wants to celebrate with the fans and the players.”

Now the United manager has set his sights on winning Group C with victory against Valencia in their final game.

"We want to go and win the group," added Ferguson. "We've got Valencia at home, we can look forward to that."