Christiano Ronaldo's spectacular winning goal will have grabbed the headlines but Wayne Rooney was quick to commend Manchester United FC's all-round team performance after their 1-0 quarter-final win at FC Porto on Wednesday night.
'More solid'
United put their recent defensive wobbles behind them to earn their first shutout since 11 March and, in truth, they seldom looked like losing the lead given them by Ronaldo's sixth-minute strike. Rooney told uefa.com: "I thought we looked a lot more solid tonight. The last few weeks defensively we have been open and have conceded a lot of sloppy goals. We'd looked at the goals we conceded and they were poor goals to give away. We knew we had to get it right if we wanted to win the trophies we are involved in. Tonight was a bit similar to [the semi-final against] Barcelona last season where we defended really well, but we nicked a goal tonight to win the game."
Compact
Porto may have had 17 goal attempts but they managed only four on target – compared with ten in the 2-2 first-leg draw in Manchester. Nemanja Vidić said: "The difference between the first and the second leg was we defended as a team, we were compact." The Serbian also underlined the importance of defensive partner Rio Ferdinand's return from injury, adding: "Rio brought confidence to the team, he played well. I was happy to have him next to me."
Confidence
It was not just at the back that United impressed. The defending champions looked dangerous when they attacked, with both Ryan Giggs and Rooney himself – tireless in a wide role – catching the eye. "If you defend well then you always have opportunities on the counterattack," said Rooney. "I thought we had two or three good opportunities in the second half and maybe could have nicked another goal but the main thing is we went through. We have two difficult games against Arsenal [in the semi-finals] who we know are a good team but you have to be confident in yourself and hopefully we can get to that final."
I had it in my mind to shoot and try to score and that's what I did
Cristiano Ronaldo
'Unbelievable strike'
It can only help United if Ronaldo keeps producing special goals just when it mattters. The Portuguese attacker gave United the perfect start when he struck for the third successive UEFA Champions League game with that early long-range effort. "One of those moments that decides whether you win or lose," was the verdict of Dimitar Berbatov. Michael Carrick concurred: "It was an unbelievable strike. It put us in a good position because we started the game very well and I thought the goal was a big bonus for us and gave us something to hold on to." As for Ronaldo's own response, he was as direct as his shot: "I had it in my mind to shoot and try to score and that's what I did. It's the best goal I've ever scored. I've just seen the replay and I didn't realise it was 40 yards [36.5 metres] out and I hit it at 65mph - wow! This victory will give us confidence. The last five games we didn't play great, but I hope this will change that."
