Giggs reaches milestone, Rooney on bench (From Burnley and Pendle Citizen)
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Giggs reaches milestone, Rooney on bench
7:09pm Tuesday 5th March 2013 in National Sport News © Press Association 2013
Ryan Giggs, left, was handed his 1,000th senior game as Wayne Rooney, right, was named on the bench
Wayne Rooney was sensationally left out of the Manchester United starting line-up to face Real Madrid in this evening's Champions League second-leg last-16 clash at Old Trafford.
It had been anticipated Sir Alex Ferguson would only tinker with his starting line-up from the Bernabeu three weeks ago.
Instead there were four changes, with Ryan Giggs handed his 1,000th senior game, and Nani, Tom Cleverley and skipper Nemanja Vidic also included.
It meant no place for Jonny Evans, injured Phil Jones and Saturday's hat-trick hero Shinji Kagawa.
However, the absence of Rooney was the biggest bombshell after his return to first-team duties against Norwich at the weekend following a sinus infection.
Rooney was named on the bench, where he was joined by Javier Hernandez, Kagawa, Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia.
As anticipated, Cristiano Ronaldo was making his first appearance at Old Trafford since his world record £80million exit for Madrid in 2009.
Coach Jose Mourinho did make a change, though, with Gonzalo Higuain replacing Karim Benzema in a match in which they had to score in order to avoid exiting on away goals.
