Under-fire Ronaldo guilty only of trying a little too hard

The Manchester United match programme, like most of the ilk, tends to be more old style pravda than an independent forum for objective debate, but last night's edition had it right on Cristiano Ronaldo: "With each game his popularity grows at Old Trafford and diminishes among rival fans.''

As a former fledgling hero of Benfica's great city rivals Sporting Lisbon, he would never have won any popularity contest among last night's visiting contingent, even without Saturday's diving furore at Middlesbrough, heavily featured in Portugal and fuelled by Sir Alex Ferguson ahead of the decisive Group F game.

They duly jeered his every move just as they had when United won 1-0 at a less feverishly nervous stage of the competition in September but had only legitimate footballing reason to curse him in the end for yet another individual performance of vivacity.

If Ronaldo was guilty of anything, it was merely of trying a little too hard. Graeme Souness, an old shrewdy of deep European experience had suggested before kick-off that there was a danger especially for young players in doing just that on occasions like this when they might be the centre of attention.

He cited a match when Liverpool's manager Bob Paisley deliberately talked up Gordon Strachan to add to the pressure on Aberdeen's main man: like more of Paisley's plans, it worked to perfection.

Ronaldo sometimes seemed to want to be all things to his team, reluctant to stick to the touchline where Carlos Queiroz, making an early foray into the technical area, indicated he should be working. There was certainly scope for operating down each side of the pitch in turn as United employed an unexpected shape from the start and changed it at regular intervals in an often disjointed first half.

The "little winker'' of tabloid mythology began on the left for an impressive 15-minute spell that included one thunderous free-kick hacked away for a corner. He also was sufficiently aware to track back when the adventurous right-back Nelson ventured forward but had switched flanks before the latter drove in his wondrous opening goal.

Ronaldo's second excellent free-kick after half an hour forced the goalkeeper Quim to punch over the bar in some alarm and it was the first foul of the night on him - Sir Alex please note - that led directly to United's timely equaliser. Ryan Giggs was allowed to take this one, placing it perfectly for Nemanja Vidic to head in.

And just after the hour, the two wide players conjured up a second goal that allowed Old Trafford to relax at last: Ronaldo, despite having just taken a knock, was back in full flow for a cross to match Giggs' in accuracy that the Welsh man headed in just as firmly as Vidic had done.

From then on it was all twinkle-toes and step-overs. Diver? Not even Benfica could find cause for complaint. This was the more than acceptable face of Cristiano Ronaldo.