Thaindian News

London, Apr 15 (ANI): England manager Fabio Capello has said that Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was right to gamble by playing Wayne Rooney against Bayern Munich last week.

The England coach said he would have done exactly the same in Ferguson’s shoes even though there were doubts over the striker’s fitness.

Manchester United ace Rooney lasted only 55 minutes of the Champions League quarterfinal second leg after aggravating his ankle injury.

“I perfectly understand Sir Alex’s decision to play Rooney because he knows how important he is psychologically for the whole team. I don’t think he took an unnecessary risk,” Capello said.

“If he played Rooney after the pre-match tests, clearly his conditions allowed him to do so,” The Sun quoted Capello, as saying.

Capello believes United, Arsenal and Chelsea crashed out of Champions League before the latter stages because they failed to strengthen their squads.

England does not have a side in the semi-finals for the first time in seven years.

“If a club is at the top, it should buy every year one or two high-level players to remain at the top, given that the opposition is getting stronger,” Capello said.

“Compared to the previous season all the clubs have sold important players, some went overseas, others moved to new clubs and went to Manchester City. They got weaker.”

Capello insists his England squad will be banned from booze during the World Cup and players will be kept away from the attractions of Sun City in South Africa.

“Alcohol has always been banned from all our HQs - and that goes for myself and my staff too. It means we won’t need to go to a health farm to detox, we’ll do it in-house.

“We’ll try to come up with creative pastimes. But do not expect me to send the players to the Sun City casinos,” Capello said. (ANI)