Gerard Houllier believes Manchester United ace Cristiano Ronaldo goes into tonight's clash with Olympique Lyon underdone.

"Cristiano Ronaldo isn't in the best form of his life," Houllier told Le Parisien. "He has been in his top form from October to December this season.

Manchester United wing ace Cristiano Ronaldo was delighted with his double in yesterday's 3-1 FA Cup victory over Tottenham.

And Ronaldo insists he had no problem with taking a penalty against Tottenham, despite missing one during the Reds' last defeat in December. When asked if that rare failure was on his mind when he put the ball on the spot, Ronaldo replied: "To be honest, no.

Rio Ferdinand has praised United's talismanic duo Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo for their recent performances, but he warns that the pair must maintain their form in order to fire the Reds to glory this season.

Cristiano Ronaldo's Mum admits she wants to see her son leave Manchester United and join Real Madrid.

Dolores Aveiro told AS: "Hopefully, one day he will go to Madrid. They are my favourite team, the best in the world.

"If the day came for Cristiano to leave England, then it would please me if he went to Madrid."

Manchester United ace Cristiano Ronaldo has hailed the impact made by Carlos Tevez this season.

"He is a great player," stated Ronaldo. "He is fast, aggressive, passes the ball well, he makes things happen and scores goals.

"I call him a complete player. It's incredible the speed with which he has adapted to our team and his progress on the field can be seen by everybody.

Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo is confident he will be better in 2008 than he was last year.

Ronaldo was in sparkling form as United won the Premier League and reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League. He is happy with the way he played but believes he could inspire United to even greater success over the coming months.

Manchester United overcame Derby's resilience to move within a point of Premier League leaders Arsenal.

Derby's lack of a serious attacking threat was always going to limit their hopes of upsetting the champions. And United's midfield, which included Michael Carrick as a late replacement after Owen Hargreaves was injured in the warm-up, gradually took a grip on the game.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to help Manchester United see off Fulham and move second, closing the gap on Premier League leaders Arsenal to three points.

Kuszczak and flew in at his near post. They could have added a second almost instantly, but Liedson's finish was ruled out for offside - a marginal decision at best.

As United struggled to maintain any attacking rhythm, Sporting were shooting on sight and Anderson Polga shocked Kuszczak with a snap-shot that the keeper held at the second attempt.

Louis Saha has backed countryman Mikael Silvestre to make a full recovery from the knee injury that's expected to keep the defender sidelined until March.