Manchester United's Dimitar Berbatov backs Wayne Rooney to break record goal tally

Rooney extended his staggering recent goal haul to 17 since the turn of the year by scoring twice in Sunday’s 3-0 Old Trafford win against Fulham. The double strike takes his tally for the season to 32 goals in all competitions and leaves him just ten behind the 42-goal mark set by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2007-08. With Denis Law’s 46-goal club record mark now looming into sight, Rooney could yet end the campaign by writing both Law and Ronaldo out of the Manchester United record books.

And Berbatov, who scored United’s third against Fulham to round off an impressive personal performance, admits he has no qualms about playing the provider for Rooney to maintain his incredible goal streak. Berbatov said: “I’m pleased I made a goal for Rooney against Fulham because that is part of my job as well as scoring.

“I think Wayne can certainly get over 40 goals. He still has plenty of games left so I wish him luck and we will all help him get over the 40 mark. “If we win it doesn’t matter if I don’t score, as long as we are champions at the end of the season.

“I like making assists as much as I like scoring and I was just as happy making the second goal for Wayne as I was scoring the third myself.

“I think at the moment he is the best (player in the world) and he is still so young so he has plenty of chances to get even greater.

“Like I’ve told him many times, just stay healthy and you can achieve everything.”

Berbatov has begun to win over the doubters at Old Trafford, who have viewed his languid style with disdain.

But the Bulgarian is on course to win his second title medal since arriving in a £30.75m move from Spurs in Aug 2008 and he insists that United have the edge over their title rivals.

He said: “The title race is tight but I’m convinced we are going to win it.

“Chelsea and Arsenal are great teams and we have some difficult games ahead, but we have home advantage for those big games, so I am optimistic that at the end of the season we will be champions.

“Experience is very important in these tight games an we have a good balance of experienced players and young ones.

“We have a good spirit and we have the boss who is the most experienced manager and, in the end, it all makes for a great team.”