Ronaldo Lights Up His Lisbon Homecoming

Cristiano Ronaldo's instinctive reaction on scoring past his former employers was to raise his arms in triumph but, remembering his surroundings, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, turning to the Portuguese supporters who had been serenading him, and bowed in their honor. It was a gesture that was greeted with a standing ovation on an evening of personal and collective triumph for Manchester United and the most famous number seven in world football.

This was a fourth successive 1-0 victory for Sir Alex Ferguson and, while it is perplexing that their expensive collection of players have managed only five goals this season, their shortcomings will not matter too much when they reflect on the implications of Ronaldo's decisive contribution. This was not his finest performance but how typical it was that Ronaldo should be the player who illuminated the contest and, simultaneously, put United's feeder club firmly in their place.

The Jose Alvalade, a kaleidoscope of color, bonhomie and exuberance, is one of the few stadiums in Europe where United are applauded, not whistled, on to the pitch, and Sporting's boisterous fans distinguished themselves with the reception they afforded to Ronaldo and Nani before kick-off, cheering their names and unveiling several large banners in their honor.

Ronaldo, in particular, is wholly unaccustomed to this kind of acclaim on United's foreign excursions, but he and Nani are clearly still revered at the ground where they began their careers. "Once a lion, always a lion," read one of the banners, reflecting the great sense of pride among the Leoes that two of their players should now be affiliated to a side of United's stature.

Of less distinction was the diving and gamesmanship that seems inherent in Portuguese football and it was easy to imagine how a young Ronaldo, for instance, was once schooled in the art of tumbling to the ground under any form of challenge, real or imagined. Leandro Romagnoli was booked inside the opening exchanges for attempting to dupe the German referee Herbert Fandel and, as the game wore on, several more of those in green and white hoops could have been punished.

It was a pity because Sporting showed in sporadic bursts that they were capable of constructing some wonderfully incisive football. Only a splendid one-handed save from Edwin van der Sar denied Liedson a spectacular goal after the Brazilian striker arrowed a shot towards the top corner, 28 minutes into a largely one-sided opening half, and Ferguson's men were indebted on several more occasions to their Dutch goalkeeper, who appears to have overcome his loss of form earlier this year.

Their own attacking thrusts were mainly unimpressive throughout this period, with Ronaldo shadowed by a clutch of defenders, Nani looking like the occasion might have got to him and Wayne Rooney, brought into the team at the expense of Carlos Tévez, busy but ineffective. In mitigation, they were not helped by the badly rutted pitch but it must have been disappointing for Ferguson, all the same, that Van der Sar had to make half a dozen saves in the first 45 minutes while Vladimir Stojkovic barely had to dirty his knees in the opposite goal.

Their problems persisted at the start of the second half when, again, they lacked any form of penetration and there were too many occasions when their front players were culpable of losing possession cheaply. United's supporters will have been encouraged to see Rooney making his first appearance since the opening weekend of the season but there was a strong argument that Ferguson should have selected the rehabilitated Louis Saha, too.

United's most incisive performances tend to come when Saha is leading the line and there is clear evidence - not least from the last World Cup - that Rooney is better playing in the area between midfield and attack rather than as an orthodox center-forward.

United have not scored more than once in their last 11 games but that felt like an irrelevance in the 62nd minute when they worked the ball from one end of the pitch to the other to create the game's decisive moment. It was by far the best move of an otherwise lackluster evening, culminating in Wes Brown crossing for Ronaldo to score with a stooping header.

Even then, however, it needed another outstanding Van der Sar save, this time from Tonel, to ensure United kept their lead. Shortly afterwards Ronaldo was replaced by Carlos Tévez to another ovation.

If only, he must have thought, it could be like this in England.