Ronaldo shines brightest as United win battle of stars

A WAYNE ROONEY double and a Cristiano Ronaldo screamer helped Manchester United beat a Europe XI to celebrate the EU’s 50th anniversary and the Red Devils’ 50 years in European competition — whilst raising £1.25 million for charity.

Ronaldo, the star of the show all night, struck a glorious free-kick to delight the 74,343 crowd.

Rooney took just five minutes to get his name on the scoresheet, a little shimmy taking keeper Santiago Canizares out of the game as he tapped Paul Scholes’ through ball into an empty net.

A bit of trickery from Ryan Giggs provided Wes Brown with a second for United before Lyon’s Florent Malouda pulled one back.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic had missed a penalty by the time Rooney finished off Park Ji-Sung’s cross for a United fourth to lead 4-1 at the break.

In the second half El-Hadji Diouf pulled a goal back from close-range.

China international Dong Fangzhou was given his first taste of the Old Trafford atmosphere, before a late Diouf penalty after Gabriel Heinze had handled meant a tight finale.