United in response to ill luck

Given the number of occasions against Lille at Old Trafford on Wednesday when Manchester United moves withered at the feet of Cristiano Ronaldo, the young Portugal winger may have felt some form of repayment was due yesterday. Ronaldo told a Portuguese radio station he would be staying at United in the short to medium term and contract discussions with the club had begun.

"We have talked and I hope to reach agreement as soon as possible," Ronaldo said. "Nothing has been decided yet and I would like to stay. I would like to play in Spain one day, but I am happy here at Manchester. You can never be certain of anything in life, but I am happy here and I want to stay here. In football there are no guarantees. If I don't leave now, if I leave in two, three, four, five years I would be happy. I am at a great club."

The worth of a contract in football is debateable, but Ronaldo's current deal expires in 2010 and the thought of the 22-year-old staying for another two years after that will entice Old Trafford. Ronaldo may have been wasteful on Wednesday, but without his classical run and byline cross, Henrik Larsson would not have left United in such style.

That was the inventive, decisive aspect of Ronaldo and it was required to lift a United performance that was otherwise prosaic. That was not the first case of its kind in Europe this season and Alex Ferguson did not disagree with the analysis before the match on Tuesday when asked.

"Job done" was how this European campaign could been viewed, he said.

"We know it's going to get harder from here on in, but I think this result was proof of how far this team has come," Rio Ferdinand said after Wednesday's win.

"I think last season we were a bit gung-ho a lot of the time and it didn't pay off. I think this result has shown the maturity of the side and it's a step in the right direction. Hopefully, if we can have the fruits of that this season, that would be fantastic. I'm just pleased there was an assured authority about the team, which we haven't seen in the Champions League for a few years.

"It was a very professional performance. The manager told us to go out there and try to win the game, and we did that the best we could. Maybe we were a bit cautious at times, but this is the Champions League and teams can hurt you in an instant with one moment of brilliance. And we kept them down to a minimum."

However, it cannot be solely down to industry - witness Ferdinand's second-half Ali shuffle out of defence to beat two Lille players - that United sit atop the Premiership. They will learn of their Champions League quarter-final opponents in Athens this morning and then go to Middlesbrough tomorrow for an FA Cup quarter-final. That progress has to be acknowledged and yet it is notable how many in and around Old Trafford are pointing to recent games won despite declining form.

That, of course, is a traditional strength of great sides, but added to the lack of fluency is a sudden jolt of injuries. Ferguson has never whinged as other managers do about this inevitable by-product of the pace of modern football, but as he saw Mikael Silvestre carried off in injury-time against Lille, he must have felt the inclination to gurn.

Silvestre may be dismissed as a stand-in these days but he has played in 21 of United's 43 games. His dislocated shoulder comes on top of Louis Saha's thigh strain, which will keep him out for four weeks; Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's damaged knee, a two-week injury; Patrice Evra's unspecified injury; and Darren Fletcher's ankle knock, which will sideline him for two months.

Add Larsson's departure and Paul Scholes's three-match suspension and there is unquestionably wear and tear visible at a time when a three-pronged season moves towards its climax.

Ferguson talked optimistically about squad depth, and if Larsson set an example of a surprise contributor in his 12 appearances, perhaps the man who replaced him on Wednesday, Alan Smith, will seize his moment. After the 18 months ravaged by injury Smith has experienced himself, compensation is due.

"He will be involved again at Middlesbrough on Saturday," Ferguson said, "and is certainly back in the frame."

Guardian Service