Ronaldo Puts United Through With Swing of Left Foot

Manchester United are in the quarter-finals courtesy of Cristiano Ronaldo's 30th goal of a season and it is beginning to feel like a fait accomplish that the most devastating player in English football is destined for another clean sweep of the individual awards. This was not his most beguiling performance but, yet again, his predatory finishing was decisive for a United side who were seldom troubled by their opponents.

If Sir Alex Ferguson was being harsh, he might reflect that his side could have made it into the last eight with something more to spare, particularly given their superiority for the first hour. Nonetheless, Ferguson is entitled to be satisfied after a comfortable evening in which he took a calculated gamble with an experimental line-up.

The Scot has such a bloated squad the task of trying to predict his team can be as futile sometimes as attempting to nail a jelly to the wall. Who, for instance, could have accurately predicted that the United manager would start the game with Paul Scholes and Owen Hargreaves in absentia? The announcement of the team brought audible gasps from the crowd, and understandably so given that Scholes was once regarded as a mandatory pick for these big games, and Hargreaves was largely signed from Bayern Munich because of his experience in this competition.

The omission of Carlos Tevez was another surprise but Ferguson, lest it be forgotten, tends to get these things right and any misgivings about the inclusion of, say, Darren Fletcher were quickly eradicated. Carrick, in particular, passes the ball beautifully and Anderson's emergence has earned him a new song that, in short, basically asserts Cesc Fábregas could learn a thing or two from the young Brazilian. United looked brisk and businesslike, and when Ronaldo opened the scoring four minutes before half-time there could be no argument that it was not thoroughly deserved.

Old Trafford is a seductive place under floodlights and these occasions tend to bring out the best in Ferguson's men. Ronaldo, for one, seems to come alive on European nights but the paradox, after all the slick first-time football that had preceded it, was that the goal was one of the scruffiest in his collection. Wes Brown's cross was low and hard and, with several defenders in close proximity, Anderson miscued his first attempt. The ball spun to Ronaldo, who struggled to get it under control at first, but his mere presence seemed to fluster François Clerc and the full-back made a pig's ear of clearing the danger. Ronaldo was quick and alert, retrieving possession and firing a low, left-foot shot beyond Grégory Coupet, the Lyon goalkeeper.

United's slick, first-time play was befitting of a side who had aspirations of equaling a Champions League record established by Juventus in 1997, of 10 successive home wins. Lyon sporadically flickered into life on the counter-attack but Ferguson's defenders were acutely aware of the dangers posed by Karim Benzema and, in one move, there were four players in red shadowing the pacy, athletic forward. Throughout the first half Lyon's only other danger emanated from Juninho's brilliantly executed free-kicks.

A goal down, the French champions were compelled to shed some of their caution. Yet any fears of a second-half onslaught proved to be unfounded.

Lyon's form has been erratic in Ligue 1 recently and their small but boisterous group of supporters were reduced to hushes of apprehension throughout long stretches of the second half. It has been two years since United lost a Champions League tie on their own pitch and it is difficult to remember one period of the match when Lyon looked to be playing with any kind of collective belief that they could blow a hole in that record.

Instead, United continued to look the more dangerous side, albeit playing with greater conservatism than in the opening 45 minutes. An argument persists that Wayne Rooney is not as potent when he is asked to curtail his roaming instincts and play a more orthodox center-forward role, but Ferguson would not have been too worried as the game entered its closing stages. Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were imperious in defence and, in front of them, Fletcher, Carrick and Anderson controlled midfield. Nani, deputizing for the injured Ryan Giggs, looked lively and keen to impress while, though not at his best, Ronaldo frequently troubled defenders.

There was one scare when the Lyon substitute Kader Keita struck the outside of a post but the goalkeeper probably had it covered anyway and, two minutes later, Rooney should have made the game safe when he intercepted Hatem Ben Arfa's back-pass but was denied by Coupet.