Reception heartens Fergie
20 Sep 2007 - 08:45:04
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was pleased with the reception Cristiano Ronaldo received from the Sporting Lisbon fans after the winger scored the only goal of the Champions League game against his former club.
Ronaldo's diving header in the second half proved to be the winner in a lukewarm game and was met by applause from some of the home fans.
Ferguson said after the narrow success: "It was interesting to see that - it's a rarity in the modern day game, but given that he's an ex-player for the club it's understandable in some ways.
"I'm pleased that he's off the mark for the season. His suspension derailed him a little bit, but I'm sure he's back on track now.
"It was good night for us. Winning your first match of the group away from home, just like we did last season, sets the tone. Getting a good start is always important.
"This victory will give the players a good confidence boost because we went a couple of years without winning away from home in Europe.
"Last season we changed that trend and it got us back to how we were eight or nine years ago when we were a constant threat away from home.
"Tactically things were, in the main, very good. Our penetration was better in the second half and there was more purpose to our game.
"They had some opportunities from the edge of the box, but they never really opened us up and that was our plan."