Hernandez the difference for United

Manchester United 2 Marseille 1 (agg 2-1): A Wes Brown own goal complicated things for Manchester United but Javier Hernandez's brace was enough in the end to send them into the last eight of the Champions League at the expense of Marseille.

Brown found his own net seven minutes from time to offer hope to the French champions hope, but they could not convert late pressure into the crucial away goal that would have sent them through.

They were chasing the game from the fifth minute after United’s prolific Mexican striker turned home Wayne Rooney’s cross after beating the offside trap.

Marseille had more of the ball than many sides who visit Old Trafford but they lacked the cutting edge of Hernandez up front, which was emphasised again when ‘Chicarhito’ swept home Antonio Valencia’s cross to ease the pressure in the 75th minute.

“We are delighted to be through to the quarter-finals,” Rooney said afterwards. “It was a difficult game, we knew they were a physical team with a lot of power — we just deserved it in the end.”

Rooney laid off the pass that allowed Hernandez to open the scoring after five minutes and put United ahead in the tie after the first leg finished goalless.

The England striker admitted he enjoyed playing a slightly withdrawn role behind his young team-mate, who has now scored 16 goals in his debut season, and

who was preferred to Dimitar Berbatov tonight.

“He’s got great movement so I’m playing the position that I did when I started playing professionally. I’m enjoying it and thankfully he’s a finisher,” Rooney said. “It’s not often forwards get the chance to be on ball and enjoy playing. I enjoyed tonight.”

He added: “Our gameplan was to attack them first half and to get a goal or two up. We managed to get one and we held on. We were unfortunate to concede the goal.”

Rooney said he would be happy to meet Barcelona in the next round, adding: “If you want to win the tournament you need to play and beat anyone. Whoever we get next we’ll be confident we can beat them.”