Giggs: Ronaldo was better in 06-07!

Ryan Giggs reckons that Cristiano Ronaldo was a better player in teh 2006/07 season than last year!

Cristiano scored 42 goals in all competitions last year, on the way to winning the Premier League, Champions League and numerous individual awards - not least the Ballon D'or!

But Giggsy insists that Ronaldo was better the year before - when United romped home to just the Premier League title.

"In the 2006-07 season I thought Ronaldo was unbelievable. Last season I didn't think he was as good. He did turn himself into an even greater goal scorer, but the previous season his overall play was incredible."

"Ronaldo is dedicated to every part of his lifestyle and so are the people he has around him. He has his diet and the way he looks after himself. He leads his life for football so he has got to be like that."

World Champions

Cristiano Ronaldo is now a World Champion! Having been recognised as the best Player in the World by FifPro and France Football (and teh FIFA Award to follow in February), Ronaldo's Manchester United became champions of the World after a 1-0 over South America's best team!

United dominated possession from the start. Quito's best chance came early on when Jairo Campos found space to meet Alejandro Manso's whipped free-kick in front of goal but somehow put his shot wide. But the South American champions were on the back-foot from that point onwards and were grateful to Cevallos for three good saves in the first 20 minutes.

Cevallos did well to push away a Rooney snap-shot from the edge of the area and repeated the trick to keep out another ferocious effort from the England striker soon after - although this time he will have been relieved that the ball bounced wide after it had span from his grasp. And the 37-year-old was soon in action again, flinging himself to his right to keep out a diving header from Tevez after some good work from Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo looked keen to impress the crowd at the Yokohama International Stadium, showing off some fancy footwork at every opportunity, with only an end-product missing from his play. United's failure to score was not through lack of effort, or chances, and Cevallos was again in the right place at the right time to palm away Park's stinging shot before parrying another effort by Tevez. Park should have done far better before the break when Anderson's long ball fell to him at the back post - but he miscued horribly and sliced his attempted chip well over.

It looked like Ferguson's men would be punished for failing to take those chances when Vidic was dismissed for his clash with Bieler with both players grounded - and the red card also means he will be suspended for the first leg of United's Champions League clash with Inter Milan in February. United's 10 men were forced to reshuffle and Tevez was replaced by Jonny Evans, who filled in at the back. But it made little difference to the pattern of the game as Quito still lacked ambition and United continued to come forward.

Rooney and Ronaldo had been by far the best performers on the day and they combined to deadly effect with 17 minutes left. The Portuguese winger teed up Rooney on the left-hand corner of the penalty area to bury a low shot in the far corner of the net. Quito, at last, attempted to respond but the closest they came to an equaliser was another effort from range by Manso that Van der Sar tipped over. Earlier on Sunday, Japan's Gamba Osaka secured a third-place finish with a 1-0 win over Mexican side Pachuca.

Liga Deportiva : Cevallos, Norberto Araujo, Calle (Ambrossi 77), Campos, Calderon, Reasco (Larrea 82), Urrutia, William Araujo, Manso, Luis Bolanos (Navia 87), Bieler.

Subs Not Used: Dominguez, Obregon, Delgado, Eder Vaca, Danny Vaca, Chango, Viteri.
Booked: Bieler, Campos, Cevallos, Calle, William Araujo.

Man Utd: Van der Sar, Rafael Da Silva (Neville 85), Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Ronaldo, Carrick, Anderson (Fletcher 87), Park, Tevez (Evans 51), Rooney.

Subs Not Used: Kuszczak, Berbatov, Giggs, Nani, Scholes, Welbeck, O'Shea, Gibson, Amos.
Sent Off: Vidic (49).
Booked: Anderson.
Goals: Rooney 73.

Ronaldo escapes FA action

The FA have decided not to launch any disciplinary action against Cristiano Ronaldo after the Manchester United star appeared to kick out at Tottenham's Michael Dawson in Saturday's game between the two sides.

Referee Mike Dean, who did not take any action at the time, has looked at the incident but has not deemed it serious.

A Football Association spokesman said: "We contacted the referee, who confirmed he didn't see the incident at the time and, having reviewed footage, he has also confirmed he would not have sent the player off for violent conduct had he seen it.

"On that basis, no further action will be taken."

United had feared that Ronaldo would face a ban for violent conduct, which would have been his second suspension in less than a month.

Meanwhile, veteran boss Sir Alex Ferguson is still waiting to hear from UEFA who are deciding whether Wayne Rooney deliberately stamped on Aalborg's Kasper Risgard during last week's Champions League clash.

Video evidence does not show if there was any intent from the United striker, but UEFA could still hand him anything up to a three-match ban if they deem the challenge to be dangerous or violent.

Gomes is hero

Heurelho Gomes left White Hart Lane a hero as his last-minute save earned Tottenham a goalless draw against Manchester United.

So often ridiculed for his error-prone presence in the Spurs goal this season, Gomes' confidence has begun to return.

And as United desperately searched for a winner to ensure they left for Club World Cup duty in happy mood, the Brazilian produced a fingertip save to turn away a Ryan Giggs free-kick that was going to creep in.

It left the Red Devils rueing their failure to take advantage of second-half superiority and opened the door for Chelsea to surge clear in the Barclays Premier League title race by beating West Ham tomorrow.

Dimitar Berbatov will have been particularly disappointed at his failure to make an impact, which just gave the Spurs fans - so used to losing this fixture - more reason to cheer.

Sir Alex Ferguson predicted a hostile reception for the old Tottenham favourite and the Spurs fans obliged with a stream of boos and jeers that began when Berbatov emerged for the warm-up and continued throughout the game.

It should really have been no surprise that the four men Ferguson claimed were major doubts should be in United's starting line-up, Berbatov and Cristiano Ronaldo among them.

United would have wanted the quartet on the field too as, with Arsenal and Liverpool failing to win earlier on, they had been presented with a perfect opportunity to stamp their presence on the championship picture before heading to Japan.

Yet the visitors' attempts to break the Tottenham defence did not get them very far, even though Ledley King's frail knee prevented him from taking part and Jonathan Woodgate lasted just 10 minutes after coming off worst in a tackle with Carlos Tevez.

Ji-Sung Park and Michael Carrick both had shots deflected wide but Gomes, who Redknapp is persevering with despite a string of awful mishaps, was relatively untroubled until Rio Ferdinand forced him into a save in first-half stoppage time.

Tottenham did not exactly lay siege to United's goal but at least they made Edwin van der Sar work to keep them out.

The veteran Dutchman has just been awarded a new one-year contract, with Ferguson adding a ringing endorsement of his enduring ability.

Van der Sar backed up the assessment with a couple of excellent saves.

The first denied David Bentley, who flicked the ball up perfectly for a volley that had Van der Sar scrambling to make a low left-handed save.

Van der Sar's next effort was even better as he palmed away a shot from Aaron Lennon, who had been allowed to get too near the United penalty area, then reacted quickly enough to block Roman Pavlyuchenko's follow-up.

Luka Modric then launched himself at Didier Zokora's inswinging cross but his diving header was just off target.

With Pavlyuchenko getting in the way of a Tom Huddlestone piledriver, it was easy to see why the Spurs fans were disappointed their team were still being held at the break, although at least they could revel in the failure of Berbatov to make a significant contribution.

It took the 27-year-old just seven minutes of the second half to suggest he intended to be more of a threat, spinning superbly on halfway before embarking on a charge into the Spurs box that was only halted by Michael Dawson's despairing lunge.

Ronaldo - another peripheral figure - had the ball in the net from the corner. The Ballon D'Or winner claimed it should have stood but referee Mike Dean correctly ruled it out for handball.

It was the beginning of a long period of United pressure, although it took the introduction of Paul Scholes and Giggs to bring an air of real menace to their attacks.

Giggs supplied the cross from which Nemanja Vidic's header forced Gomes into his best save and the veteran Welshman was also responsible for the corner Ferdinand nodded over at the near post.

A goalmouth scramble that ended with Michael Carrick driving a low shot at Gomes also came from Giggs' set piece delivery.

Park tested Gomes with a rasping drive but Van der Sar would have been beaten if Modric's shot had curled just under that bar after flicking off Ferdinand rather than just over it.

Two Ronaldo free-kicks brought no reward, which was probably why he left Giggs to take the last one and give Gomes the chance to be a hero.

United top despite draw

Danish side Aalborg held Manchester United to a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford but Sir Alex Ferguson's side still progressed to the last 16 of the Champions League as group winners.

It had looked comfortable for the home side early on as Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez had chances either side of the Argentine's goal, less than three minutes into the match.

Ryan Giggs was given too much space in the centre of midfield and lifted a simple ball over the defence. Tevez was far more alert than the sleepy defence and reached Giggs' pass, scoring with a first-time flick past Karim Zaza.

More goals looked on the cards as chances fell for Jonny Evans, Nani and Rooney again, all in the opening 20 minutes.

AaB, to their credit, were happy to soak up the pressure - albeit unconvincingly - and then find the gaps left by the home side, with Thomas Augustinussen and Marek Saganowski missing the target early on.

But the goals were still a shock when they came, both of them against the run of play.

Nani had almost scored after being played in behind the AaB defence when, two minutes later, he gave away a free-kick.

The set-piece was swung in to the front post where Michael Jakobsen had made a clever run, untracked by the static United defence, and he was able to glance a diving header beyond Tomasz Kuszczak and into the far corner of the net.

The second goal, scored just before half-time, mirrored the first with John O'Shea missing an identical chance to Nani's before AaB went up to the other end to shock the home crowd.

Anders Due found the space to whip in a deep cross which Jeppe Curth nodded back across goal and, miraculously, past Kuszczak. It was a wonderful, curling effort which gave the match some much-needed spice.

It at least snapped United out of the rut they had casually worked their way into after their early dominance, and the second half began in familiarly promising fashion.

Seven minutes into the half, after Tevez had already missed a good headed chance, Rooney powered his way into the AaB area and poked a low drive past Zaza from 15 yards.

Yet, much to the frustration of the United bench, the reigning European champions couldn't push on to clinch the three points.

A Steve Olfers sliding tackle took the ball from substitute Paul Scholes' feet just as he looked ready to score, and Zaza made two good saves from Gary Neville and Olfers' deflected header.

In truth they were probably affected by events in the other Group E game, which allowed them to finish top, but they would have liked to have taken their chances and cruised through to the next phase.

Ronaldo returns to training

Cristiano Ronaldo was able to return to training on Tuesday morning and could be involved in Manchester United's Champions League clash with Aalborg at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

The Portugal international had to be substituted after picking up a hip injury in Saturday's victory against Sunderland and had been thought to be a major doubt for the final Group E clash against the Danish side.

However, Michael Carrick, Patrice Evra and Daniel Welbeck did not take part in the training session, increasing speculation that John O'Shea, who has been struggling with a hamstring injury, could return to the starting line-up.

Meanwhile, veteran defender Gary Neville has admitted that his continuing injury problems are starting to frustrate him.

The 33-year-old has struggled to regain full fitness since injuring ankle ligaments against Bolton Wanderers in March 2007.

He made only one substitute appearance in the whole of the 2007-08 campaign and, despite returning to the first team this season, has not made a Premier League start for over a month.

He told United's official website: "To be honest, I've not been able to stay fit enough, or produce consistently good enough performances, to stay in the team, simple as that.

"You've got to be realistic and honest with yourself. The first thing you've got to do is stay fit.

"If you do that over a long period of time, you get the opportunity to get your level of performance to something that's acceptable for this club."

Papers: Ronny wants more

Golden Ronaldo wants more
Cristiano Ronaldo says he now feels "at home" at Manchester United and wants to stay at Old Trafford. Only four months after his "dream" move to Real Madrid fell over, the winger's itchy feet appear to have been soothed and all it took was being handed the Ballon d'Or. Ronaldo, who was in Paris yesterday with his long-suffering manager Sir Alex Ferguson to receive the European player of the year trophy, said he was now content. "I've been playing for Manchester for five years, I feel at home," he said. "There have been prizes won by this club both collectively and individually. I'm happy at Manchester and want to stay." Ronaldo joined United in 2003 and scored 42 goals last season to help them win Premier and Champions League titles. However, the 23-year-old said he wanted more. "I am an ambitious person. I don't want it to stop here. I think we have to keep trying to win trophies... I am on the right track. I am the Golden Ball winner today, which motivates me even more."
Glen Corry, The Guardian

The Daily Mail claims Sir Alex and United chief executive David Gill met with Ronaldo on Friday to open talks over a new £40 million deal and extend his stay at the club.

In other news, Sir Alex is backing the return of Scotland v England games at the end of the season, say The Times.

Ronaldo Gets Ballon D'or

Cristiano Ronaldo picked up his most prestigious award yet as he took home the world famous Ballon D'or - the European Footballer of the Year Award!

He was in Paris for the full 3 hour show alongside Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who gave Ronaldo a standing ovation when the time came.

Ronaldo was grateful to Ferguson, and all his team-mates.

"I've been playing for Manchester for five years - I feel at home," said the 23-year-old Ronaldo. "I'm happy at Manchester and want to stay."

"I'm an ambitious person. I don't want it to stop here," said Ronaldo reflecting on his success. "I think we have to keep trying to win trophies, collectively and individually. I'm on the right track.

"It's always special to reach this level, the important thing is to stay there. The idea is to keep progressing, collectively and individually as well. Without my team I couldn't have won it, and I have to thank them also."

Sir alex had kind words for him, and said it was good for Manchester United to have such an accomplished player - the first United player to win the Award since George Best some years back!

"It's a long time since we won one, 40 years ago," said Ferguson. "Of course, he's only 23. He's only just beginning. When players get to 26 they start to mature."

Ronny deserves it

Some people may be thinking the Ballon d'Or is just another award for Cristiano Ronaldo, the latest in a long line of trophies recognising his astonishing achievements last season.

In the last seven months, he's been named PFA Player of the Year, Football Writers' Player of the Year and FIFPro World Player of the Year. But this one caps the lot. Ronny appears to be genuinely thrilled to win this, the most prestigious individual honour in world football.

I'm delighted for him. It would have been ludicrous if he had been pipped to the award by Lionel Messi or Fernando Torres, both of whom enjoyed successful seasons but were not as consistently devastating as Ronaldo.

And let's not forget that in being heralded as the world's greatest player by 77 out of the 96 journalists on the voting panel for the France Football magazine gong, Ronaldo joins a very distinguished list indeed.

The last three United winners were George Best (1968), Bobby Charlton (1965) and Denis Law (1964). After scoring a phenomenal 42 goals in the 2007/08 Double triumph, perhaps Ronaldo has already assured he will be mentioned in the same breath as that trio in years to come.

But one way for him to guarantee that is to ignore overtures from the continent, stay at this great club and continue to torment opposition defences for many more seasons.

"This is one that I want to win again because it is so good," Ronaldo said after scooping the award. "Therefore, I will wake and I will say to myself 'I want to be even better'." Let's hope he fulfills that ambition in a United shirt.

Ron: Simply the best

Cristiano Ronaldo has been awarded the prestigious Ballon d’Or trophy.

The most coveted individual honour in world football, the award recognises Ronaldo’s outstanding performances over the past 12 months.

"I dreamt of this when I was younger," he said. "It's a great day for me and my family."

The Portuguese winger scored 42 goals last season on the way to domestic and European glory with the Reds and was the resounding favourite to win the trophy.

After France Football’s confirmation in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the 23-year-old joins United legends George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton on the award’s honours roll.

Recent winners include Kaka (AC Milan, 2007), Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus/Real Madrid, 2006) and Ronaldinho (Barcelona, 2005).

Ronny is the 42nd different player to pick up the prize, and the third Portuguese after Eusebio’s victory in 1965 and Figo's win in 2000.

"The Ballon d'or has been won by two great Portuguese players and for me to be part of that history is a great feeling."

Ballon d'Or

Last five winners:

2007 – Kaka
2006 – Fabio Cannavaro
2005 – Ronaldinho
2004 – Andriy Shevchenko
2003 – Pavel Nedved

Fergie: Stupid Sending Off

Sir Alex Ferguson has stood by Cristiano Ronaldo as our Portuguese star became embroiled in the bizarrest sending off of the season.

Ona yellow card from a tackle on Shaun Wirhgt-Phillips, Ronaldo leapt up to head the ball from a corner, but then choose to punch the ball back towards the corner spot rather than head it - claiming he heard the Ref's whistle.

Fergie backs up ROnny - "He tried to stop the ball from hitting his face," said Ferguson.

"He thought he had heard a whistle, he got a little push as well and it is not as if he punched the ball. The crowd played a part and he got sent off."

However, City boss Mark Hughes agreed with referee Howard Webb's decision, and added: "I don't think the referee had any choice. I thought he was going to catch it at one point.

"It was a clear handball. It was a soft sending off but clearly a second bookable offence.

"I don't know what reason he will give for doing it but if he says the ball was going to hit him in the face why didn't he head it?"