Ronaldo on Champions League
Ronnie also believes that despite disappointment this season, the Champions League is well within United’s grasp next term. He swapped shirts with Cafu and Rui Costa after the home defeat to Milan and believes the San Siro experience will bode well for United’s younger players.

He says: “United is a great club and I believe in the group of players we have here. We had a hard task when we went to Milan but we gave it our best shot. They are good rivals and lead Serie A and we were desperate to go through.”

Ronaldo challenging Cafu

Cristiano maintains that he does not change the way he plays in Europe, yet admits the demands of UEFA’s showpiece competition. “The key difference between Premiership and the Champion League is the obvious one; that it’s being contested by the best teams in Europe – the level of quality is higher as there is another caliber of opponents. I tried to play in the same way in the Champion League as I do in the Premiership. The games didn’t always go in the way I would have liked them to, but my overriding aim is to help the team to perform well and to contribute towards putting us in a position to win matches.”

With the European Cup beyond United’s reach, Cristiano believes the trophy with the best chance of heading back to Manchester this season is the FA Cup – and he has a special fondness for the competition having starred in last season’s final in Cardiff. “This year my ambition is to win something, whether it be Premiership or the FA Cup,” he says. “We could win both but the FA Cup is the most likely.”

Memories of his first piece of silverware in England are easily recalled. He headed the opener against Millwall but perhaps more impressive was the outrageous piece of skill he produced to send in a ball from the by-line in the first half, Ron wrapping his right leg round the back of his left to deliver a clever cross. He also reveals that Ruud van Nistelrooy provided him with a special gift after the game.

“That cross was pure instinct,” he says. “I don’t know hot to explain the tricks; they’re just a part of me. I don’t work on any top secret ones in training. Things are the way they are. Ruud was given the Man of the Match award but he offered it to me. I accepted, and now I have it in the sitting room of my house in Manchester. It was a lovely gesture and I never thought he would do something like that. I was very grateful and he wanted me to accept it. It’s one of the only trophies I have in Manchester as most of the others are in my house in Madeira.”

Ferguson backs Ronaldo

Sir Alex Ferguson's view on Ronaldo
Sir Alex reckons that Cristiano, the most fouled player in the Premiership, has improved dramatically this season and claims that by the time he is 23 or 24, he will be in the same class as Barcelona’s Ronaldinho. The Gaffer has told him he is a better player not that he goes to ground less.

“Perhaps it’s true if the manager says I’m a better player this season because I don’t play act as much. Football in this country is more physical than it is in Portugal, but now i’m in my second season at the club I know the way things are. I’ve adapted and I’m a superior player to when I arrived. I think you have to develop each year and being at a big club like Manchester you are always learning things. That’s what I’m trying to do. I’m integrated not into English style of play and I think things will continue to improve naturally.”

“It was difficult getting used to the cold in my first year in Manchester but now it’s no problem. Other teams know me well now and I’m getting marked more tightly this season, but I’, not the only player in the team and there are lots of other players for people to worry about. It’s difficult to play against us because there are various players in this side who can change a game.”

What has also helped develop Ronaldo’s game is that Sir Alex has been willing to give him the liberty he thrives on in a fluid system that allows him, Rooney and Ryan Giggs to take it in turns to attack and patrol the flanks. “I’m a player who loves to be as free as possible,” he says. “I like to play on the left, on the right and in the middle. Ferguson’s tactics suits me better than others. It’s good noews because I feel like I’m an ideal position to contribute now Van Nistelrooy is returning for the most important phase of the season.”

The young Portuguese is aware that competing in the Olympics immediately after Euro 2004 may have come at a price, but he believes that he has a coped well with the demands of a rigorous season.

“I’m feeling good despite not having much time off in the summer,” he says. “I could have done with a little bit more holiday but the campaign is about to finish and I’m fine. The Gaffer gave me and Gabriel Heinz some time off before Christmas and that was a boost.”

Cristiano has come in for criticism from team-mates this season for not scoring often enough or failing to pass. He’s not adverse to some self-criticism either during and during the 3-0 home defeat of Southampton he refused to smile after scoring because he spurned a chance moments earlier. Wearing his heart on his sleeve is of course a Ronaldo trait – this is not a boy who is used to restraining his emotions. Whether it be shedding tears at half-time of an important youth game for his first side Andorinha, or after the Euro 2004 final, he is deeply passionate about his football.

“I react the same way to criticism as everybody else,” he says. “Sometimes people may have a go at me for what I do on the pitch but there are other times when I might not like what they’re doing either. We’re all trying to do the same job and we have to work for the same cause. When things don’t go well we should support each other because that’s the way great sides and great players are made.

“The Southampton game is in the past now and what happened is simply what happens in football. It isn’t obligatory to be happy all the time. I wasn’t happy that day because before the goal I had wasted a golden opportunity – I was just annoyed with myself. That’s it.”
He adds: “If I show more emotion than others it’s because I’m happy when I’m playing football. I’m not sure how much it has to do with my Latin temperament, but playing football for me is synonomous with happiness and spectacle. That’s what I try to show.”

The spectacle factor has received a powerful shot in the arm following the signing of Wayne Rooney. Ronaldo clearly enjoys working with the England star but he plays down the idea that their prodigious talents mean a special bond exists between them, or that either is overwhelmed by the burden of expectation at Old Trafford.

Ronaldo and Rooney

Ronaldo on Rooney
He says: “I haven’t got anything special to say about Rooney, everybody already knows him. He’s a great player with a great future ahead of him. There is no special connections between us because we’re both talented players. Everybody gets on quite well and I do with Wayne. It’s always difficult coming to a big club because there are major expectations and losing isn’t part of the culture – but big players have to cope with the pressure.”

The main difference in Cristiano’s life in the past six months is that he is not far off becoming a celebrity. He is a hot property on and off the pitch. The European championship proved the catalyst for this development and he has taken it in his stride. Madeira’s official ambassdoe shrugs off suggestions that it must be strange to see pictures of himself on giant advertising hoardings and appears to be in no rush to do more modeling work after his publicity work for PePe Jeans.

“The European Championship was an important step in my career and a very pleasant experience,” he says. “It was great doing the adverts for PePe Jeans as I hadn’t worked in the fashion world before. Maybe I’ll do more things like that in the future. Who knows? I’m not saying I will, I’m not saying I won’t.”

Sir Alex, though, will be heartened to learn that the exposure has not yet led to vanity. “If I’m looking good it’s not because I’m spending any more time than usual in the gym,” he says. “There isn’t time because we have so many games. My physique is natural and down to football training in the same way as everybody else.”

It is not only Sir Alex who is of opinion that Ronaldo has proved a more than capable replacement for Beckham, certainly if the latest terrace chart – ‘He plays on the left, he plays on the right, that boy Ronaldo makes Bechkam look s***e’ – is to be believed. Cristiano chuckles when he hears the translation but claims he has never heard the song. “It’s just the fans’ opinion,” he says.

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