Rooney ended United’s 404-minute goal drought by the scoring the winner on a night of high emotion.
The United support had vented their frustration at the players when they sauntered off the pitch at half-time having failed to score again, and then Louis van Gaal got it in the neck for replacing Anthony Martial with Marouane Fellaini in the second half.
The supporters booed loudly when the striker was substituted in the 66th minute, but soon after Rooney headed in to give United a valuable 1-0 win over the Russians.
Victory over PSV in three weeks’ time will put United into the knockout stages of the Champions League.
That would be some achievement for Van Gaal’s team, who lost their first match against the Dutch side seven weeks ago.
Wayne Rooney: Heads the winner
But the United manager still has a long way to go to prove his doubters wrong by pairing good results with enterprising, attacking football.
Rooney, at least, made his critics eat a slice of humble pie by scoring the winner. The captain’s first Champions League goal since September 2013 was a welcome one. He is now level with United’s second highest scorer Denis Law on 237 goals.
It was clear before kick-off United’s fans wanted a performance as well as a win here.
The Stretford End yelled “attack, attack, attack” as the players came out and the hosts obliged initially.
In the first 20 minutes there was no evidence of the “sideways, boring” football Paul Scholes accused United of in the BT studios before kick off.
United threw everything at CSKA. Martial, playing up front, squared to Rooney, who dragged a volley narrowly wide.
Daley Blind floated a 50-yard pass over CSKA’s defence, but Juan Mata could not steer the ball past Igor Akinfeev.
For a while it was like the good old days. The only thing that was missing was a goal. Mata danced into the box, and found Ashley Young, but Lingard blasted his shot over.
Marcos Rojo rippled the side-netting. Despite their dominance, the United fans did not seem too happy. They repeated their demand for attacking football as the players walked off at the break.
United continued to waste chances after the restart. Rojo nodded a free header wide. Rooney tapped the ball into the net, but the cheers from behind the goal were ironic as the referee had blown for offside.
CSKA threw on dangerous striker Seydou Doumbia, who would have scored had David de Gea not collected Ahmed Musa’s cross just before the Ivorian could nod in.
Then in the 66th minute, there was outrage from the United fans when Van Gaal replaced Martial with Fellaini.
Boos rang out when the board showing Martial’s number was raised by the fourth official. After the Frenchman had left the field, the United supporters sang his name before yelling “We’re Man Utd, we want to attack”. The message was clear – they were not happy with the substitution.
United continued to flounder in front of goal. Rooney could not get the ball out from underneath his feet with the goal gaping.
At the other end Chris Smalling cleared off the line from Doumbia.
But then finally the breakthrough came. Michael Carrick floated a pass over the back four, Lingard squared first time and Rooney headed in before embarking upon a wild celebration in front of the Stretford End.
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