Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson paid tribute to striker Wayne Rooney for his "courage" in taking the penalty in their 1-0 win over Rangers.

The result secured United's berth in the knockout stages of the Champions League with one game remaining.

"It took a lot of courage to take the penalty kick," the United boss said.

"It was not an easy night, he missed a couple of chances but that's what you expect with the rustiness in his game. We are pleased for him."

The only goal of the game came in the final five minutes when a high challenge by Rangers midfielder Steve Naismith on Fabio da Silva was perceived as illegal by Swiss referee Massimo Busacca, who pointed to the spot.

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Rooney stepped up and lashed the ball to the bottom right of Allan McGregor's goal.

"There were not many nerves really," said the England striker, who scored only his second goal of the season, both coming from the penalty spot.

"I knew what I was doing and where I was going. I can only do that. If the keeper guesses the right way and saves it, so be it. Thankfully it went in.

"Obviously it is a bit of a relief for me to score. Hopefully I can build on this now."

Rooney celebrated his strike by racing away to the United section of Ibrox.

"I wanted to celebrate with our fans," he stated. "It is always nice to beat Rangers away.

"Hopefully I can go on a goalscoring run now but really I am just delighted to be back playing again.

"I felt good. I felt fit throughout the game. I want to build on this performance and this goal."

Ferguson now wants his side to finish top of Group C with victory over Spanish rivals Valencia, who also reached the next round with a 6-1 win over Bursaspor.

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

Rangers, meanwhile, will finish third in the group and drop into the Europa League irrespective of how they fare against Bursaspor on 7 December.

And manager Walter Smith pleaded with the club's owners to invest in the squad during the January transfer window.link text here

"It doesn't look [there will be investment] but that's the way we've been for a while and we just carry on."

Injuries to Madjid Bougherra, Maurice Edu, Kyle Lafferty and Sasa Papac on top of other longer-term absentees meant Smith was only able to list six substitutes in the 1-0 defeat to United at Ibrox.

"If we don't get any help in the January transfer window we could have a struggle because we're right down to the bare bones," he admitted.

"We need a bit of a hand. We're in a situation where we've only got teenagers left. James Beattie only had two or three days training and we had to put him on the bench, otherwise we were a little bit embarrassed by a lack of numbers."

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