Rooney and Ronaldo must learn to be real Manchester United legends

Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney have been challenged to prove themselves as real Manchester United legends.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer - part of Reds folklore for THAT goal in the 1999 Champions League Final - claims they must emulate United greats Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes.

Giggs, 34, has won more trophies than any other player in the English game, while Sir Bobby Charlton has hailed Scholes, 33, as his alltime favourite United player.

Norwegian Solskjaer, now United's reserve team boss, said: "These young players like Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani have just to look at players like Ryan.

"After all he's learnt in the game, he's still learning. He wants to improve.

"You've got Paul Scholes too - and Gary Neville. They are the hardest working players in training because they want to improve. They know they haven't got 10 years left in their careers so they want to make the most of it.

"For Paul Scholes, it doesn't matter to him if it's the Champions League Final or a training match, he is just as desperate to play.

"These are the role models that young players, no matter how good they are, can look up to. Look at Ryan Giggs, he's got 10 titles. That's the challenge for young players."

Solskjaer was speaking ahead of his Old Trafford testimonial today against Espanyol. And as well as dishing out advice to United's young players, he also hopes to hand £1million to charity.

The former supersub is a UNICEF goodwill ambassador and his donation will help children in Angola, Mozambique and Malawi.

Solskjaer, 35, is committed to his UNICEF work and takes more satisfaction from that than he did from scoring 126 goals in 326 games for United, before injury forced him to quit last year.

"It's more important for me to be able to look back on my career and know that I have contributed with 10 schools in Africa than all the goals I scored on the football field," he said.

Even though Solskjaer helped United win five Premier League titles, two FA Cups and the Champions League during his 11-year Reds career, he plays down his part in the club's success story.

However David Beckham is emphatic about his former team-mate's place in the club's hall of fame.

Becks said: "I remember when I met him for the first time how young he looked and he had such a baby face.

"But as soon as he started training with us, you could see straight away that he had what it took to become a Manchester United player, a great Manchester United player in fact, even at such a young age.

"I'll never forget when he came on as a sub at Nottingham Forest that same season and within 10 minutes had scored four goals.

"That just sums Ole up. He was all about scoring goals."