Manchester United have complained to Uefa that winger Cristiano Ronaldo was dazzled by a laser beam ahead of their Champions League match at Lyon.
The incident allegedly occurred in the warm-up before the last-16 first leg tie but Ronaldo showed no ill effects during United’s 1-1 draw in France.
Television pictures suggested Ronaldo was also targeted when running with the ball during the first leg of the last-16 clash at Stade Gerland, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
[BBC]
Cristiano Ronaldo was fined £8000 in one day by Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson… for using his mobile phone during training.
The 23-year-old Portuguese winger was caught texting four times during a single session at the club’s Carrington complex.
Strict Fergie, 66, is tightening the screw on players who are not completely focused during the club’s midweek preparation.
He has been hitting his stars in the pocket with on-the-spot £2,000 penalties for every offence.
A United source said: “The players all respect Sir Alex’s discipline. He is not a man to be messed with.
“But a few of the players have been sneaking their mobile phones on to the training pitch to send the odd text message between sessions.
“Fergie and his assistants have been cracking down on it big time recently. They insist that mobiles stay in lockers and should not be used until training is finished.”
[Thesun]
According to Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor, his main rival for the Golden Boot has skills you would normally only see on a computer game.
Cristiano Ronaldo set English football alight last season, winning both Player of the Year prizes and scoring 17 goals in 34 Premier League appearances. If anything he is scaling even dizzier heights this term with 19 goals in 20 League games.
Adebayor is neck-and-neck with Ronaldo at the top of the Premier League scoring charts and has the utmost respect for the Manchester United star. The Golden Boot is clearly not Adebayor’s priority but, if he is to win it, he knows he has to eclipse one of the world’s finest.
“He is a player I like to watch,” admitted Adebayor. “He has a lot of quality and watching him is like watching something else, it is like playing on the PlayStation sometimes.
“He is an amazing footballer and I show him a lot of respect for what he has done this season. There are not a lot of players, especially midfielders, who can achieve what he has achieved.”
[Arsenal]
Arsène Wenger has revealed how close he came to signing Cristiano Ronaldo and suggested with some mischief that the player himself ought to tell the story of how he almost chose Arsenal over Manchester United.
“I knew about him, yes,” said Wenger. “We were very close (to signing him). Manchester United had a partnership with Sporting Lisbon when (the assistant manager) Carlos Queiroz came in - that made the difference. One day I will tell you more about the story and you will be surprised. You will have to ask him (Ronaldo) how close it was. We had him here. He was here much earlier. He could tell you that if he wants.”
[Guardian]
Sir Alex Ferguson has promised Cristiano Ronaldo a bumper pay rise if the free-scoring Manchester United winger can fire 13 more Premier League goals - giving him 30 for the season.
Ronaldo continued his remarkable goalscoring run with two in United’s 3-1 fourth-round FA Cup tie against Tottenham on Sunday, to take his tally for the season to 25 in 27 games.
He has 17 goals in the Premier League, five in the Champions League and three in the FA Cup.
Although boss Fergie believes it is unlikely his Portuguese attacker will hit the 30- goal mark in the Premier League this season, he has promised the £110,000-a-week star even more money if he reaches the milestone.
[Mirror]
Ronaldo scored a double to give Manchester United a 3-1 victory against Tottenham in the 4th round FA Cup game at Old Trafford.
It was a tight and exciting match. Tottenham were beaming with confidence after thrashing Arsenal in midweek’s Carling Cup semi-finals, and they gave United plenty of troubles from the start of the game.
Tottenham almost took the lead on 16th minute from a corner, but was only denied by Wayne Rooney on the line. It came no surprise when Robbie Keane scored the game opener on 24th minute, thanks to a fine move from Aaron Lennon.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been challenged by Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson to hit 30 goals this season.
The Portuguese winger has already scored 23 times in all competitions this campaign for the reigning Premier League champions and heads the top-flight scoring table with 17 goals.
“With Ronaldo having scored 23 goals already, there is the potential for him to score 30 this season without question,” Ferguson said.
“He is not that far off and he has a strong chance of doing that.
“I’m sure that he is capable of scoring 30 league goals, though I think that is a different matter entirely.
“Achieving that would be more difficult and I don’t think that will happen. It is a big ask, but if he does manage it, I’ll pay him more money.”
Ronaldo scored his first hattrick for Manchester United, and led the team to demolish Newcastle 6-0 in Old Trafford. Carlos Tevez scored a double while Rio Ferdinand was on the score sheet as well.
MU dominated the game from the start but the scoreline was surprisingly kept at 0-0. In fact they could have gone a goal behind if Michael Owen’s goal was not wrongly ruled as offside… but then, United had 2 penalty claims (one was obvious foul in the box) denied as well.
The 2nd half was a different story though; Manchester United finally convert their dominance into goals. Ronaldo opened the scoring on 49th minute with a cleverly taken freekick, and scored the other two on 70th minute and 88th minute.
The hattrick takes Ronaldo’s goal tally to 22 for the current season, just one short of last season’s 23-goals.
Manchester United chief executive David Gill insists the club would never sell Cristiano Ronaldo, amid reports Real Madrid are lining up a £50m offer.
“There’s no chance of us selling him, no way, whatever the bid,” he said.
“Cristiano signed a new contract last season to 2012 and we are not a selling club. (Manager) Alex Ferguson has never let a player go he didn’t want to.
“He is happy here. Alex knows Ronaldo’s mind and what he’s about - everything about him is Manchester United.”
[BBC]
Real Madrid aim to once again test Manchester United’s resolve to keep Cristiano Ronaldo after it emerged they were prepared to pay £45million for the striker.
The Spanish club’s president Ramon Calderon revealed his desire to land Ronaldo after failing to do so once before when the 22-year-old snubbed him to sign a new five-year deal at Old Trafford.
United are certain to turn down any offer, but Real see Ronaldo as the player to return them to Champions League glory.
Calderon said: “Who wouldn’t want to have in his team a player of Cristiano Ronaldo’s amazing talent? He is one of the best in the world.”