United have winning material - Ronaldo - Sport in brief

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United looked anything but potential champions for much of the game, but Ronaldo insisted he saw enough in a much-improved second-half display to convince him United are genuine contenders.

"You have the team; you have the group; you have the coaches - I think we have everything to win the Champions League," he said.

Ronaldo, who also scored the winner in Lisbon in September, added: "The second round, I hope we do the same job.

"It's fantastic. You are in a good way winning all the games; you play fantastically - and people like to see Manchester play.

"In the second half we were better - good passes, good crosses - and we scored two goals. We deserved to win, because we played better.

"I always try to score and I am happy, not just because it's Sporting - they respect me and I respect Sporting, but my colour now is red."

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was left to delight in Ronaldo's unstoppable 25-yard effort, and ponder a close match which appeared to be ebbing away from his team until he introduced Carlos Tevez at the interval - the Argentinian prodding home his team's first goal on the hour mark.

"It was a marvellous strike," Ferguson said of Ronaldo's screamer. "He's done it before - he works very hard at that - but it was a truly exceptional goal.

"We just marginally won it. We were not a great deal better than Sporting but increased our game in the second half - more speed and tempo - and managed to just edge it."