Rooney not focused on Ronaldo goal record

Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney insists he is not thinking about breaking Cristiano Ronaldo's 42-goal record despite taking his tally for the season to 30 with a brace against AC Milan on Wednesday night.

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Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney united

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Rooney scored four goals in United's 7-2 aggregate victory against Milan to book a place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, leaving him just 12 away from the number Ronaldo scored in United's double-winning season two years ago.

With nine Premier League games remaining, plus up to five more in the Champions League, the odds on Rooney eclipsing Ronaldo's feat are tumbling fast.

But the England striker is refusing to look too far ahead, and insists his major priority is looking forward to the last eight draw on Friday week.

"I am delighted to get two more goals but I have not set myself a target. I just want to keep scoring," said Rooney. "Overall, it was a great result and we are delighted to get through. Now we can just look forward to the draw and see how it goes from there.

"There is no preference. They are all difficult games at this stage of the competition."

United already know Lyon, Bayern Munich and Arsenal are potential quarter-final opponents, while holders Barcelona, Inter Milan, Chelsea and Sevilla appear to be the strongest sides left in the other half of the draw, which is concluded next week.

However, after ripping apart the seven-time winners in clinical fashion on Wednesday night, it is the rest of Europe that needs to be wary of United, who are bidding to reach a third successive final for the first time in their history.

"The first goal was vital," said Rooney. "We set out to get an early goal to kill the game off and when we got it we shattered Milan's confidence. That was the major turning point."

Rooney believes his receding hairline has contributed to his prolific season.

"It's coming off my bald patch and that's helping me score,'' quipped Rooney. "I've been working on my heading a lot and thankfully it's paying off.''

Sir Alex Ferguson said: "I am delighted he has got to 30. That is what I wanted. But he is there now. We have nine league games left and hopefully five European matches, so that is 14 in total. If he gets a goal a game he will do it.

"But I am not greedy. I would be happy if he got to 40.''

Barcelona are the obvious team to be avoided, whilst there are easier opponents than Arsenal despite United's recent successes against them over the past 12 months.

"You could throw a net over all the clubs and there would be nothing between them,'' said Ferguson. "The competition nowadays is so close. When the draw came out last time, and we were the final name, I said we had never beaten Milan in four attempts.

"Now we are in the last eight and I don't think it matters who we play. It is not as if there is an easy game. We have to play one of them and with the performance level we produced last night we are capable of playing against anyone.''