Hat-trick Hero: Wayne Rooney says he never lost his self-belief during ten-game goal drought

The Manchester United skipper ended a barren run of 878 minutes without a goal in emphatic fashion as he netted a treble in Brugges

Wayne Rooney said he never lost his self-belief after scoring a stunning hat-trick to send Manchester United back into the Champions League.

Skipper Rooney ended a 10-game run without a goal for United with his treble to put Louis van Gaal's side back among Europe's elite after missing out on the Champions League last season.

Rooney's last goal before last night came back on April 4 last season but the United striker said he had never lost faith in his goals-scoring ability.

“I’m delighted to get the goals,” said Rooney.

“To be honest, if I didn’t have a strong character, then maybe it would have affected me, but I know my quality, I know what I give to the team.

Wayne Rooney said he never lost his self-belief after scoring a stunning hat-trick to send Manchester United back into the Champions League.

Skipper Rooney ended a 10-game run without a goal for United with his treble to put Louis van Gaal's side back among Europe's elite after missing out on the Champions League last season.

Rooney's last goal before last night came back on April 4 last season but the United striker said he had never lost faith in his goal-scoring ability.

“I’m delighted to get the goals,” said Rooney.

“To be honest, if I didn’t have a strong character, then maybe it would have affected me, but I know my quality, I know what I give to the team.

“If the goals don’t go in, I still bring a lot to my team-mates. Thankfully I had chances tonight and I took them.

“I wasn’t worried. If it was going on for three, four or five games more, then maybe so. But it’s early days and I knew when the chances came I'd take them.

“As a striker you obviously you want to score. Everyone goes back to last season and towards the end of the season I didn’t score.

“People make a big thing of it, I understand. I've understood since a young age, because of my name, because of who I am, it'll get publicized a lot more. That's part of my job, I have to accept that.

“More importantly, it was a massive game for the club to get through to the group stage, after being out of it last year. We're delighted we're through to the draw.

“United have to be in the Champions League. It was a big disappointment last year, not to challenge.

“It's exciting now. We'll go back, do our recovery, get ready for Sunday at Swansea and we'll enjoy the draw. It’s nice to be back in it again.”

Rooney is now on 233 goals for United, just 16 short of Sir Bobby Charlton's long-standing record, which the 29-year-old could go on to break this season.