NEWS: Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson had special words of praise for Republic of Ireland international John O'Shea after last night's Champions League match with Juventus at Old Trafford

O'Shea excelled in defence following his introduction to the action as a substitute for Mikael Silvestre in the 52nd minute.

"He has fantastic potential," Ferguson said. "I keep saying 'take your time with him', but sometimes a player comes along and forces himself in - and that's the way it's going with John."

And Ferguson was impressed with the quality on show at Old Trafford. "There was great quality in the game. In terms of Europe maybe you won't see a better game tonight.

"It was an important night. Juventus were maybe missing two or three players, but showed what a strong squad they have - probably a stronger one than us.

"It was a marvellous ball from David Beckham for the second goal and a great finish from Ruud - it was fantastic execution."

But Ferguson later pointedly declined the invitation to single out the England captain for praise.

"I don't think we had an outstanding player. The players all worked well in the framework of the team."

He did, however, move to rubbish suggestions that he might have been thinking of dropping Beckham, who has been seen in some quarters as having fuelled the media frenzy surrounding the cut he incurred above his left eye.

"There was never any doubt that he would not be picked," he said. "If you really think that you misunderstand the mentality here. My best team picks itself."

Juventus coach Marcelo Lippi insisted his side had not made a formal request for the match to be postponed and said he was proud of the way his side had played.

Informed of Ferguson's view that Juventus might have taken something from the match, he replied: "I agree with Ferguson, I always agree with Ferguson and tonight I agree him with him even more than usual."

Meanwhile, Real Madrid coach Vicente del Bosque recognised his side still have a lot of hard work to do to even make the quarter-finals after claiming a first Group C win against Borussia Dortmund.

The result sees Real move up from bottom of the standings to second with four points from three games.

"There are three games left in the group phase and no one knows what the competition still holds," Del Bosque said.

"Our recent experience of winning three European Cups tells us that every game is going to be difficult. We can't afford to take anything for granted at this stage.

"It was very important that we managed to turn the game around after the opening goal and get the three points.

"It took a big physical effort. We defended well and I felt that, in the end, we had enough opportunities to win more easily."