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Manchester United
Reds in Russia: United celebrate victory last night

Cristiano Ronaldo's warning to rivals

Ken Lawrence, Evening Standard
30 Apr 2008


Cristiano Ronaldo has warned Chelsea and Liverpool that a fired-up Manchester United will be waiting for them as champions in Moscow in three weeks' time.

The winger played his part at Old Trafford last night as United beat Barcelona 1-0 in the semi-final, second leg to set up the first all-English final on 21 May.

By that time, Ronaldo believes his side will have secured the League title. He said: "Just because we are now in the Champions League Final does not mean we will lose focus on the first prize we can win.

"What we achieved against Barcelona was wonderful but we have two games before we go to Moscow - against West Ham and then Wigan - and our aim is to win both of those.

"Only after that will we really think about the Champions League Final. But it will not matter to us whether we play Chelsea or Liverpool. We have believed all season that we can win in Moscow and going through against a great side like Barcelona gives us more confidence that we can do what we set out to do. First, as I say, comes the games we need to win to stay champions of England, and beating Barcelona will give us more confidence to get the job done in the Premier League."

Paul Scholes scored the only goal of the tie after 14 minutes and will now make up for the pain of missing the 1999 final against Bayern Munich through suspension.

United's Korean midfielder Ji-Sung Park believes the disappointment of losing at Stamford Bridge on Saturday is now all the motivation the players need.

"We proved that we have what it takes to be champions, no matter what competition it is," he said. "Obviously playing against either side will be very hard but we have the resolve as well as the talent to win."

Goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar agreed with Ronaldo and claimed that a double is a real possibility. He said: "Some people were questioning whether things might go bad for us after we lost to Chelsea.

"We have shown we have the mental strength. We got to the final. We achieved that. It is a great feeling. "We have a lot of individual qualities, such as Paul Scholes showed in the way he scored that fantastic winner, but being a team is also important and above all we are a team who believe we can have big success this season."

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