Reds marvel at Ronny's goal

United players were queuing up to praise Cristiano Ronaldo's wonder-goal after the sixth-minute strike secured a place in the Champions League semi-finals.

The Portuguese winger's rising right-foot rocket from long range (UEFA measured it at 39.6 yards) put the visitors in the driving seat by stunning the Porto players and supporters.

"It was an unbelievable strike," Michael Carrick told MUTV. "Just when we needed that spark and a bit of brilliance, Ronny's done it again."

Wayne Rooney enthused: "It was a wonderful goal from Cristiano to win us the game. It was brilliant and on such a big night for him too."

John O'Shea added: "The strike was sublime. He’s well capable of that and he nearly stuck another one in the bottom corner with a couple of minutes to go."

Ronaldo's goal was also heralded in both dug-outs. Porto's assistant coach Jose Gomes said his team could take heart from losing to such a shot: "We can be proud. We lost to the best team in the world, by a goal scored by the best player in the world."

Sir Alex Ferguson commented: "I’ll need to go into my memory bank to recall a better European Cup goal than that one. That was fantastic, a great, great strike. We wanted to show our intent but to get that sort of start, well, nobody can expect that sort of goal."

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