RONALDO HAPPY AT OLD TRAFFORD

RONALDO HAPPY AT OLD TRAFFORD

Cristiano Ronaldo has dropped the biggest hint yet that he will stay at Manchester United next season.

Once again, Ronaldo has been the centre of attention this week after former Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon claimed the best player in the world would arrive at the Bernabeu this summer.

Sir Alex Ferguson decided not to respond, beyond the tongue-in-cheek statement that clubs 'find it easy to get players off us don't they?'.

However, Ronaldo has offered his own assessment of the situation.

With three Premier League clubs in the Champions League semi-finals for the third successive year, there is no doubt where the power in European football lies at present.

And it seems Ronaldo may opt to remain at Old Trafford to further his medal collection.

"It is a great feeling and I love to play here," the Portugal superstar told Setanta Sports.

"I am very happy here. I want to win more trophies here. At the moment I think I am at the right club.

"And I want to win trophies next season as well."

United must tackle Arsenal in the Champions League semi-final, their first two-legged meeting with English opposition.

"It is not luck that there are three English teams in the semi final of the Champions League," observed Ronaldo.

"In my opinion it is because the Premier League is the toughest league and the most competitive league with the best players."

First, United must tackle Everton in Sunday's FA Cup semi-final and then Portsmouth at Old Trafford on Wednesday as they look to consolidate their position at the Premier League summit.

A pair of victories would keep United on course for an unprecedented quintuple, an aim Ronaldo admits will be tough to complete, but one he does not rule out.

"We have this opportunity, but it will be difficult to win the five trophies," he added.

"It is not impossible; we have to play against Everton and that will be a tough game, but everyone knows if we win we are in the final again."

Fergie to ring the changes

Fergie to ring the changes

Sir Alex Ferguson has claimed anyone believing he could play the same side that defeated FC Porto in Manchester United's FA Cup semi-final against Everton on Sunday is "off their heads".

Despite the enormity of their meeting with David Moyes' side, the Red Devils will be virtually unrecognisable from the team that started in Portugal as Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs and Michael Carrick are all expected to stand down - with Edwin van der Sar and Dimitar Berbatov possibly joining them.

"When I pick my team, no matter what it is there will be critics voicing a concern about me not playing my strongest team," said the United chief. "Not everyone agrees with changes. There are some supporters who want me to play my best team every game. That is impossible. If you look at Wednesday's game you are off your head to think I could play the same team again."

The sheer energy expended in United reaching the last four of Europe's number one club competition for the third season in a row means the men asked to do the bulk of the running will not be asked to put their bodies on the line again.

It means Rooney is set to miss out on an emotional last four meeting with his former club, with Ronaldo due to sit the game out as well having toiled on his own up front for the last half hour.

"I am in a difficult position because we have got so many hard games coming up," reflected Ferguson. "Somewhere along the line I have to make changes.

"The speed of the game has changed.

"Look at how fast the Premier Division is. The intensity of the matches is the reason English teams have a head start in Europe."

Yet Ferguson also denies he is devaluing the FA Cup. Replacements such as Park Ji-sung, Darren Fletcher and Carlos Tevez are all senior internationals who have been integral figures in United's pursuit of an unprecedented quintuple this term.

"Hand on heart, the FA Cup is important," he said. "We don't want to have a defeat at this time of year. No matter what the defeat is, we have to answer for that."

FERGIE FANS FLAMES OF BENITEZ ROW

FERGIE FANS FLAMES OF BENITEZ ROW

Sir Alex Ferguson has urged Rafael Benitez to start doing something better with his spare time.

The Manchester United boss has finally reacted to Benitez's repeated attacks, accusing the Spaniard of 'arrogance' and treating old friend Sam Allardyce with contempt.

Ferguson has not forgotten the so-called 'facts' Benitez reeled off in a pre-planned post-Christmas attack.

And the Scot feels Benitez should start doing something more productive with his time.

"I don't know what he does in his spare time but he is certainly not using it in the right way," said Ferguson.

"He has put himself in a powerful position at Liverpool.

"He wants control of all the transfers. The reason, I don't know. But it's the last thing I'd want."

However, it is not the internal politics at Anfield that concern Ferguson.

It is Benitez's general behaviour and dealings with fellow Premier League managers.

And, after causing irritation with his dismissal of David Moyes' work at Everton, who tackle United in the FA Cup at Wembley tomorrow, Benitez went a step too far with his reaction to Liverpool's second goal against an injury-ravaged Blackburn at Anfield on Sunday.

Under the circumstances, Ferguson felt Benitez's reaction, a wave of the arms to signal the game was over, was unwarranted and unacceptable.

"Benitez said Everton are a small club, which just points to his arrogance," said Ferguson.

"But it is one thing to show the arrogance he did. What you cannot forgive is the contempt for Sam Allardyce last week when Liverpool scored the second goal.

"I don't think Sam deserved that.

"He is a guy who has worked so hard for the LMA (League Managers' Association), looking after young players.

"He had a weakened team and to get that kind of contempt....I don't think any other Liverpool manager would have done that. It was beyond the pale.

"I am surprised no-one picked up on it. You would never get me doing something like that. You should respect managers.

"At times you have to have humility."

Not that Ferguson has too much time to think about Benitez as he plots a way past Everton in the FA Cup semi-final.

It could be a much-changed Red Devils line-up at Wembley too given the enormous effort expended in Porto on Wednesday, raising the possibility of Wayne Rooney not getting to face his former club, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick among those who could also miss out, along with a more obvious candidate in Ryan Giggs.

The changes should at least bring a freshness to United as they face Moyes' much-improved team.

"When you go back to the 1960s and 1980s Everton were the dominant team," said Ferguson.

"But after Howard Kendall left they seemed to have financial problems from time to time.

"But David Moyes is building a big club. The evidence is there.

"My problem on Sunday is that we will face a very hungry team.

"David has to win a trophy. I know he is feeling that way and this is a big opportunity for him."

Kiko the kid fires United title drive

Kiko the kid fires United title drive

Just when it seemed that Manchester United's season was to unravel a little more, a goal of historic proportions from another of the academy prodigies whom Sir Alex Ferguson keeps receiving and whom Rafael Benitez, much to his own fury, does not.

If 17-year-old Federico Macheda – known as "Kiko" to his team-mates and unknown to pretty much everyone else – never scores again at Old Trafford, his extraordinary 93rd-minute goal, securing a 3-2 win over Aston Villa and taking United back to the top of the table last night, assigns him a permanent place in United folklore. It also delivers some serious momentum back to Ferguson's side, who showed scant little of it and had seemed doomed to lose three successive league matches for the first time since 2001 until Cristiano Ronaldo, taking himself to the top of the Premier League scorers' table, began an improbable fightback.

Ronaldo scored twice but the day belonged to Macheda. The teenager later revealed that he had been due to fly out to join the Italian Under-18s until Ferguson indicated that, with Wayne Rooney suspended and Dimitar Berbatov injured, he would be needed for United's bench yesterday, instead. When his moment arrived, on the hour, he seized it, looking penetrative before spinning past Luke Young and unleashing his winner in the 93rd minute of play. (Yossi Benayoun's for Liverpool at Fulham on Saturday had come in the 92nd).

Macheda is pictured on his Facebook site with a bevy of delectable women but there will be some more careful image management from now on. What had Ferguson's instructions been, he was asked. "Just play simple, play, just play," he replied, with a grin as wide as the Irwell, before his captain Gary Neville bestowed him with the man of the match winner's champagne. "Just take it home," Neville quietly advised the teenager, who will not reach the legal drinking age until 22 August. And was scoring the only thing in his mind when he received Ryan Giggs' ball? "Yes. To score a goal," said Macheda, who ran to his father, Pascuale, his mother and brother after his finish.

Neville said he was "just grateful" and that was not surprising. Shorn of all but one of his defensive mainstays, Ferguson first tried fielding the club captain in central defence against the height of John Carew, then was forced to switch him and John O'Shea around after Carew climbed above a statuesque Neville to equalise Ronaldo's opener.

Neville, Patrice Evra and John O'Shea were all culpable when Gabriel Agbonlahor sent Villa ahead on 58 minutes, prompting Macheda's arrival four minutes later. By the time the winner came, 17-year-old Danny Welbeck was also up front for United.

Gambling was the only solution to United's struggle, reflected Ferguson, who agreed that Macheda's winner compared with Steve Bruce's title-winning late pair of goals against Sheffield Wednesday, in injury time, 16 years ago. "We've come from behind and that's the significance of it if you go back to '93," he said. "But this is a far more mature team in terms of handling situations like today."

Ferguson, who admitted that playing Neville after his single reserve team game in six weeks had been a "gamble", suggested that Liverpool – now a point behind United with a game more played – are not necessarily his prime challengers. "We accept Liverpool's challenge but I think that the winner of [the] Liverpool/Chelsea [Champions League quarter-final] will be the biggest threat," he said. "So many times it's become such an emotional picture between the two clubs, never a lot of goals in it. Whoever wins, it will be a big step forward for them."

Ferguson's own attempt to get beyond Porto in United's quarter-final tomorrow is boosted by the return of Rio Ferdinand, who yesterday said he expects to play, and Nemanja Vidic, as well as Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes – both suspended yesterday.

Villa's pursuit of fourth spot has taken another dent and Martin O'Neill felt they could have had more help from the referee Mike Riley. Ashley Young certainly seemed to have been impeded by Neville in the Villa box in the first half. "Let me bleat for a moment," O'Neill said. "The referee played five minutes which was no surprise. He wouldn't have played five minutes at Villa Park. We all need a slice of luck – even Sir Alex, but he doesn't need referees and linesmen to help him every week," O'Neill said.

"The officials also got three offside decisions wrong when we were clean through," he complained. "The thing is we can take great heart from the performance. But we are really disappointed with the result because I didn't feel we deserved that.

"You are never comfortable against United, but I felt we were in commanding form and it looked as though we could withstand anything."

United go top after last-gasp win over Villa

United go top after last-gasp win over Villa

Manchester United fought back to beat Aston Villa 3-2 in the Premier League at Old Trafford on Sunday with an injury time winner from 17-year-old substitute Federico Macheda.

United lead the table with 68 points from 30 matches, one point more than Liverpool who had gone top on Saturday after their 1-0 stoppage time win at Fulham.

United seemed to be heading for a third straight league defeat before Cristiano Ronaldo equalised after 80 minutes.

He had also given United the lead after 14 minutes following a free kick awarded for a back pass.

In between those two goals, Aston Villa scored twice with headers from John Carew after 30 minutes and Gabriel Agbonlahor after 58.

In the day's other game, Everton crushed Wigan Athletic 4-0 at Goodison Park with two goals from Jo, and one each from Marouanne Fellaini and Leon Osman.

Ferguson hails 'risky' strategy

Ferguson hails 'risky' strategy

Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson said his gamble paid off after 17-year-old debutant Federico Macheda hit a late winner to beat Aston Villa 3-2.

Ferguson said: "I told him 'well done'. It's important to keep his feet on the ground. He'll need to handle lots of publicity over the next few days.

"It was a gamble but we deserved our result today because we tried to win.

"We take risks but risks are a part of football. We didn't defend well but there's always a goal threat from us."

United staged a remarkable fightback to earn a victory that takes them back to the top of the Premier League table, a point ahead of Liverpool.


Villa were 2-1 up with only 10 minutes to play after John Carew and Gabriel Agbonlahor had cancelled out Cristiano Ronaldo's opener.

But Ronaldo struck his second goal to equalise and substitute Macheda scored on 90 minutes with a brilliant curling shot to snatch all three points.

Ferguson revealed he urged his side to go for victory after they had brought themselves back to 2-2, rather than settle for a point.

"This club has been this way for a long, long time," he said.

"I love the thrill of it myself. I love to see that adventure. Yes, we take 'terrible' risks and we don't defend properly.

"But there's always a chance we'll win the match.

"We've had our blip. We had seven, eight players missing today, four or five of the very top team.

"But you can see that these young players are prepared to go right to the very end."


Villa boss Martin O'Neill was understandably upset after seeing his side beaten by a last-gasp goal.

But he was full of praise for his side for the way he felt they took the game to the Champions.

He said: "I thought we were absolutely brilliant. We conceded an early goal but fought back to get ourselves in front .

"I do not think we deserved to lose the game.

"We will gain confidence from this performance. That might sound crazy because we are in the results business - but we were terrific today.

"We should have got something from the game and I actually think we should have won it.

"The defeat is a bitter pill to swallow because we came to Old Trafford and played so well. We took the game to them and I am very proud of my players.

"We will have to take this on the chin, but we definitely come back from this."

Man Utd 3-2 Aston Villa

Man Utd 3-2 Aston Villa

Federico Macheda enjoyed a truly remarkable introduction to English football as he curled home an injury-time winner to give Manchester United a 3-2 win over Aston Villa which sends them back to the Barclays Premier League summit.

It seemed the Red Devils would have to settle for a point after Cristiano Ronaldo's brace had only proved enough to keep United level against a Villa side that thoroughly deserved a lead provided by John Carew and Gabriel Agbonlahor.

But Macheda, a former member of the Lazio academy who arrived at Old Trafford in 2007, was to have the last word.

At exactly the same moment as Yossi Benayoun struck for Liverpool at Fulham last night, Macheda turned onto Ryan Giggs' low pass before unleashing a stunning shot that curled past Brad Friedel and sent Old Trafford into ecstasy.

With Rio Ferdinand's groin injury failing to ease in time for him to be considered, United were without their first-choice defenders and their first-choice strikers amid six missing men that included Wayne Rooney.

Gary Neville's first appearance for two months was expected to come at right-back, so it was something of a surprise to see him line up alongside Jonny Evans in the centre of United's defence.

Carew's eyes certainly lit up, given his vast height advantage, which he duly exploited to the full.

On the back of an eight-match winless streak, Villa's confidence was a bit fragile too but their dominance in the 14 minutes before Ronaldo's wonder-goal provided enough evidence for them to retain self-belief even after they had gone behind.

During that opening flurry of attacks, Fletcher kneed a Carew header onto a post and Agbonlahor sped clear of Neville only to fail in his quest to find a team-mate with a low cross.

It is difficult to understand why a team that swept all before it for virtually three months should suddenly appear to be so poor.

Beyond question is the individual ability they possess, although the brutal nature of Ronaldo's 19th goal of the season still took the breath away.

Normally the kind of opportunity provided when James Milner and Friedel got themselves into a muddle, forcing the Villa keeper to handle a back pass, could be a bit of a negative given its proximity to the opponents' goal. Not on this occasion.

Ryan Giggs brushed the ball to his illustrious young team-mate, who sent it over the wall and into the roof of Friedel's net in a flash.

A sense of calm should have spread across home ranks. Instead, Villa merely came again.

Showing the form that established them in the Champions League positions at Arsenal's expense by the end of January, Agbonlahor and Ashley Young terrorised the United defence.

Edwin van der Sar was called upon to keep Villa out on three occasions but there was nothing he could do to deny Carew when Gareth Barry wriggled his way into space by the touchline.

The Norwegian crept between Neville and O'Shea to steer a deft header into the bottom corner.

Ferguson responded by putting Neville back to full-back, giving up the unequal struggle of competing with Carew. He also urged the United fans to make more noise, indicating a fear that talent on its own was not going to be enough.

The response was patchy and failed to curb Villa's enthusiasm.

Ronaldo excels at many things. Chasing back is not one of them. And when he gifted possession to Stiliyan Petrov inside the visitors' half just before the hour, he allowed the Bulgarian to sweep upfield unopposed.

Agbonlahor hung around waiting for the cross Petrov presented Carew with the opportunity to supply, then rose majestically to find the bottom corner, just as his strike partner had done earlier.

Ferguson's response was to introduce 17-year-old Macheda, which in itself said something about United's plight.

It did however bring an immediate improvement and when Michael Carrick exchanged first-time passes with Giggs on the edge of the Villa box, he then presented Ronaldo with a lay-off.

The world player of the year did not have a lot to aim at but he found the one small gap Friedel was unable to cover.

Still, when Friedel denied Danny Welbeck two minutes from time, it seemed United would have to settle for a point.

Macheda, however, had other ideas.

75M RONALDO TO JOIN MADRID - REPORTS

75M RONALDO TO JOIN MADRID - REPORTS

Cristiano Ronaldo will move to Real Madrid in a ฃ75m summer deal, according to two of Britain's leading newspapers.

According to both The Guardian and The Daily Mail, Madrid are now confident that Ronaldo will move to the Bernabeu at the end of the season.

'Real Madrid have put in place a deal with Cristiano Ronaldo's advisers that will see him leave Manchester United this summer if the world footballer of the year gets his way. Ronaldo remains determined to move to the Bernab้u and it is understood his salary and contractual terms have already been determined as part of a planned world-record ฃ75m transfer,' reports The Guardian.

'Ronaldo's representatives have held extensive talks with Madrid and, according to informed sources, categorically informed the Spanish club last September that he had no intention of remaining in Manchester beyond the end of the current season. It is understood that various pledges were made to ensure the deal happens and that everyone involved in the negotiations made a pact not to discuss the agreement in public.'

A concurring Mail - which, naturally, also claims the story of Ronaldo's expected departure as an exclusive - adds that 'Madrid's proposed deal includes a ฃ75m transfer fee - to include a down-payment of more than ฃ50m - and wages in excess of ฃ200,000-a-week for Ronaldo. They believe this is now acceptable to United and to the player.'

Ferguson: 'Defeat has made us stronger'

Ferguson: 'Defeat has made us stronger'

The pretender to the title crown has spent a frantic week constructing new contracts for his players but Sir Alex Ferguson yesterday demonstrated the benefits of a taking a loftier position than Rafael Benitez, emerging emboldened and invigorated from a week in southern France, and armed with a rationalisation of why it all fell apart in the previous two weeks of Premier League competition.


Manchester United's capitulation to Liverpool and Fulham on successive March Saturdays was, Ferguson reflected, a consequence of his younger players believing too much of what they had read about themselves. "Everybody likes to read good things," he said. "We do. It's a natural thing to do. So it can have an effect. And there are a lot of young players in our dressing-room." The satisfying part of this line of thought for Ferguson is that he can kick the press for it. "What it's done is get rid of all that nonsense about us being untouchable and unbeatable, and all the talk about five trophies I've had to try to dampen down," he added.

"We're into a situation where we can concentrate on playing football and not reading newspapers. There's never been a game won in a paper yet." The conclusion he extrapolated was that United's 2-0 defeat at Craven Cottage arrived just in the nick of time. "Maybe it was a good time for us to get that defeat at Fulham in particular. Fulham was the best one."

On a day when the United manager also cited Rhyme 'N' Reason as one of the few Grand National winners he has backed over the years, there seemed precious little of it in this thesis, not least because it was Arsène Wenger who deemed United untouchable; because individual errors and indiscipline from players who should know better proved them to be anything but that; and because the consequences of that bad-tempered defeat down by the Thames will include the loss of a suspended Wayne Rooney and injured Dimitar Berbatov against Aston Villa at Old Trafford tomorrow.

Instead, Ferguson will be depending for dear life on Carlos Tevez (right), who did not make it back from Argentina's 6-1 defeat in the uplands of Bolivia – or "Mars", as the manager described it – until 4pm yesterday.

Rafael Benitez's own journey to Fulham, where Arsenal and Chelsea have also mustered one point between them this season, looks a more forbidding task this weekend than Ferguson's, against a Villa side who have lost their last five league matches at Old Trafford. But while Benitez was flourishing new contracts yesterday for his captain Steven Gerrard and Dirk Kuyt, Ferguson also has Real Madrid circling again for one of his own prime assets, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Florentino Perez, a near certainty to win Real's presidential elections at the end of the season, will bring in one marquee name and though Kaka looks the best bet, there is a growing feeling that the verbal agreement reached between Ronaldo and Real last summer may reach fruition. The Real-affiliated Spanish paper Marca trotted out Ronaldo's godfather Fernao Sousa a few weeks back to say "Real Madrid need to sign Ronaldo" and though the paper is anything but the gospel on such matters, Sousa may actually have put his finger on Real's stealth. "The error of last year was to talk too much about it," he said of the prospective move.

Ronaldo has been at United for six years now but at the moment of truth in a season which has provided petulance and style from him in equal measure, Ferguson is looking elsewhere for the new leaders that Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes have always been. "Players like [Rio] Ferdinand, [Edwin] van der Sar, [Nemanja] Vidic and [Patrice] Evra, who have been here a few years now, they're very important and have developed that winning mentality," said Ferguson, whose side have not lost three successive league games since December 2001. "They know what it takes for us to do what we want to do." Ferdinand will make tomorrow's side but, with a groin strain troubling him, may struggle to make the United side who face Porto in the Champions League 48 hours later.

Berbatov's ankle injury is even more of a problem and likely to see him out for another two weeks, therefore missing both legs of the Porto tie. With Anderson returning, with a thigh strain, on the same flight as Tevez, and Park Ji-Sung not restored to United's ranks, from the historic South v North Korea encounter until yesterday morning, it was easy to see why Ferguson had asked to face Villa at 4pm tomorrow, rather than the scheduled lunchtime kick-off today. Television scheduling continues to madden him.

But the United manager, at least, is fresh. Another of those National winners he tipped was Team Spirit and Ferguson returned to an old familiar metaphor to lay out the nature of the challenge ahead. "It's a very appropriate thing, that it is Grand National weekend," he reflected. "You go round those 30-odd fences, hit a fence, a horse falls in front of you, you get obstacles. Our championship is about obstacles: you have a draw, a defeat, play badly and win sometimes, play great and don't score the goals you should have and that's because it is the toughest league in the world."

Time alone will tell us whether the open-top bus carrying the championship trophy, come late May, will be navigating streets a comfortable distance from Aintree.

RONALDO RESPONDS TO DIVE DIG

RONALDO RESPONDS TO DIVE DIG

Cristiano Ronaldo has hit back at Swedish star Henrik Larsson for branding him a 'diver'.

Former Celtic, Barcelona and Manchester United striker Larsson has stoked up Saturday's 2010 World Cup qualifying clash between Sweden and Portugal with his controversial outburst.

The veteran frontman reopened the debate regarding Ronaldo's on-field antics by claiming that he will call upon the match referee to keep a close eye on the United superstar this weekend.

With both sides desperate to take maximum points from the crunch clash, Larsson's comments have only served to heighten the tension surrounding the game.

Much will be expected of Ronaldo as he looks to help Portugal get their campaign back on track, but the reigning Fifa World Player of the Year insists he will not resort to underhand tactics in an effort to ensure his side emerge on top.

"It doesn't bother me what Larsson says because I know I don't dive, and that is all that matters," he said in the Daily Mail.

"I may get kicked but I don't dive. It seems everyone wants to have a go at me over that but I don't care."

Bolt plans speed test for Ronaldo

Bolt plans speed test for Ronaldo

Olympic champion Usain Bolt has confirmed he plans on handing Manchester United a late-season boost by giving winger Cristiano Ronaldo some one-on-one sprint training.

Bolt, who broke the 100 and 200metres world records on his way to three gold medals in Beijing last year, is a keen fan of the Red Devils and it was reported that Portuguese winger Ronaldo had sent the Jamaican a signed shirt and requested a training session.

"I'll definitely be doing that," Bolt said. "I'm really looking forward to it and I think I can give him a few pointers."

Bolt is coming to Manchester to compete in a one-off 150metre road race on May 17 and plans to attend United's penultimate league game of the season - a home clash with rivals Arsenal.

The 22-year-old is set to be paraded before the Old Trafford fans before the match and also hopes to attend a training session before the match to link up with Ronaldo.

"I'll definitely be doing that," he said. "I'm really looking forward to it and I think I can give him a few pointers.

"I can give him a few tips to help him get the edge on a few of the guys, I can get him up to speed.

"I'll need to see how he runs first and then I can show him a few pointers."

Indeed, having already conquered the world of athletics, Bolt is hoping to take the opportunity to impress United boss Sir Alex Ferguson himself.

"I'm really looking forward to that huge Arsenal game, Manchester United is my team I'm actually thinking about trying to make the squad too," he joked.

"I'm a left-footer so I think I could be good down the left side and I'm pretty quick, so we'll see."