Cristiano Ronaldo took his season's goal tally to 25 with a
double in the 3-1 FA Cup win over Spurs but insisted he's indebted
to his Manchester United teammates for his heroics.
The Portuguese superstar scored one of Sunday's goals from the
penalty spot after Tottenham's Michael Dawson was red-carded for a
handball.
He missed his last penalty in United's 2-1 loss at West Ham on
December 29 but Ronaldo said he had had no doubts about taking the
responsibility of the spot kick.
"Sometimes you miss and sometimes you score, but my confidence
is always positive and I shot a good penalty and I scored," he
said.
"West Ham is the past, this is the present and I scored so I'm
very happy.
"To score 25 goals is fantastic but I need to say 'thank you' to
my team-mates because my colleagues and the fans help me a lot.
"I'm having a great season and I want to carry on like that. The
most important thing is the team is playing well, we're top of the
league and in the next round of the FA Cup."
Meanwhile, Tottenham manager Juande Ramos refused to discuss his
pursuit of Middlesbrough centerback Jonathan Woodgate.
Newcastle was Spurs' only competition for the 28-year-old and
its manager Kevin Keegan admitted on Saturday he was not expecting
Woodgate, who was given permission to talk to both clubs, to move
to St James' Park.
But despite some reports that Woodgate had passed a medical and
actually signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with the White
Hart Lane club, Ramos refused to talk about the deal.
The Spaniard, who felt that his side performed well at Old
Trafford considering its 5-1 League Cup semifinal win over Arsenal
in midweek, said: "It's not that I'm not prepared to make a
comment, I've just been concentrating on the Manchester United
game.
"My mindset has been totally on this game and what's happening
elsewhere, I couldn't possibly comment on because I've been away
from those situations and I've been here concentrating on
football.
"At the moment we're in a press conference dedicated to talking
about the game and it's not the time to be talking about
reinforcing the squad."
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson revealed centerback Nemanja
Vidic, who missed the Tottenham match, is doubtful for Wednesday's
Premier League game against Portsmouth at Old Trafford because of
illness.
"Vidic had a virus," said Ferguson. "It affected his whole
family because they were over from Belgrade. Whether he's ready for
Wednesday, we'll just have to see."
(Agencies via China Daily January 29, 2008)