Wayne Rooney's difficulties on the continent, with both Manchester United and England, have been entirely self-inflicted, writes ANDY HUNTER

REPUTATIONS ARE built on the highest stage and it should therefore be a fearful Wayne Rooney that steps into Uefa’s headquarters in Nyon this morning. The Champions League embarrassingly slipped from Manchester United’s once-assured grasp in Basel last night and a three-match suspension from the European Championship may now follow for their England talisman.

Europe represents a potentially barren landscape for Rooney in 2012 and the torment is entirely self-inflicted.

The United striker’s performance mirrored that of Alex Ferguson’s team in Switzerland, with plenty of endeavour but little end product, and the ignominy of the Europa League awaits.

For a player of Rooney’s ability yet miserable record in major international tournaments, confirmation that he must miss the entire group phase in Ukraine and Poland, if that is the verdict of Uefa’s disciplinary panel, will represent another devastating setback to his hopes of being recognised among the finest talents of his generation beyond English shores. As with United’s exit from what appeared a straight-forward group, it all seems so unnecessary.

Ferguson may not care less about England’s prospects at the European Championships next summer but he must be aggrieved at the shadow that one foolish loss of self-control on international duty has cast upon United. The irony of the FA challenging a three-match ban for violent conduct from a player it suspended for two matches for swearing at a television camera last season will not have been lost on the United manager either.

United’s predicament in the final game of Group C would have increased the responsibility on Rooney regardless of his next appointment in Switzerland, with Javier Hernandez, Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen all injured. But today’s disciplinary hearing brought a scrutiny that should have been avoided.

The night before United opened their quest for a fourth European Cup, away to Benfica in September, Rooney was the subject of a lengthy, light-hearted eulogy from his manager.

Labelling Rooney as Britain’s answer to Pele did not sound so blasphemous when Ferguson’s own number 10 was plundering 11 goals in eight games for club and country at the start of the season. Rooney, however, arrived in Basel with his goals ratio having dropped to three in his past 11 outings and his manager made it clear in the pre-match press conference that the striker was not a topic for discussion, dismissing the possibility that events in Nyon could distract Rooney.

Ferguson did express such supreme confidence in Rooney’s ability to leave his Euro crisis outside St Jakob Park and United’s impressive away form in Europe to predict that Ashley Young’s stoppage-time equaliser against Basel at Old Trafford would be the goal “that rescued us in this section”. But this, it soon transpired, was not the performance the United manager could have imagined.

From David de Dea’s costly decision to use his feet in an attempt to cut out Xherdan Shaqiri’s cross from the left, and succeeding only in teeing up Marco Streller for a ninth-minute opener, to referee Bjorn Kuipers’s failure to punish Granit Xhaka for three bookable offences in the first half, the small details were costing United even before Streller accidentally stood on Nemanja Vidic’s knee and ended the Serbian’s night after 42 minutes.

Rooney was not exempt from the frustration. The United lineup suited their leading man, who was alone in attack but well supported by Park Ji-sung, less so by Young and Nani from the flanks, and who received sufficient supply from Nani and Ryan Giggs to have eased into the knockout phase. His finishing merely increased the anxiety, however.

The England international should have levelled Streller’s goal on the half hour when Nani’s cross found him lurking unmarked at Yann Sommer’s far post. Rooney appeared perfectly placed, the ball at an inviting pace and height, but a slight deflection off a Basel defender was sufficient to throw the striker off balance and he miscued badly.

Another excellent opening fell Rooney’s way from Giggs’s disguised pass into the Basel area. Again the connection was not as true as a player of Rooney’s calibre should produce. A third attempt, curled inches wide from a difficult angle following another astute pass from Giggs in the second half, typified United’s night.

They have a long and agonising period to stew over the repercussions.

Guardian Service