Cristiano Ronaldo can follow footsteps of Cantona

ALEX Ferguson never prays during football matches.

The Manchester United manager, winner of so many trophies and crucial battles, believes that prayers on the pitch are hardly answered.

In a rare, wide-ranging interview with The Times, he said: “When I was in my first Cup final as manager of Aberdeen, we were 1-0 up, and Rangers scored two goals in the last two minutes of injury time to win 2-1.

“I had prayed that day, and I thought, I would never do it again.”

Here are other nuggets gleaned from the interview with the much-decorated Scot.

PERSUADING RONALDO

“I told Cristiano Ronaldo he can follow in the footsteps of Cantona. British fans have a special appreciation for loyalty when it comes from a great foreign player.

“That’s the reason Eric Cantona is still so revered. Because he not only understood, but also bonded with Manchester. He cherished the club and the company of his teammates.

“As different as they are, Ronaldo can feel that he belongs to Man United.”

COURAGE

“Courage in football, as in life, comes in many forms. But the courage to continue, no matter how many times he is going to be kicked, identifies Ronaldo.

“Some believe the greatest courage in football is the courage to win the ball. The other kind of courage – and it’s a moral courage – is the courage to keep the ball.

“That’s what Ronaldo has. All the great players had it. (George) Best had it, (Bobby) Charlton had it, Cantona (too).

“I’ll take the kick. I’ll take the injury. But I will keep the ball. I’ll beat the bully.”

IS HE A BULLY?

“Absolutely not. I did look up “bully” in the dictionary once and, as I remember, it said a bully is somebody who preys on the weak.

“If you look at some of the people I have stood up to over the years as a manager – and I have had dust-ups with all sorts of people in that dressing room – generally speaking, they are much, much bigger than me. There is nothing bullying about that.”

PLAYER HE MISSED OUT

“Paolo di Canio would have been capable of becoming a truly great player at Man United. He expresses himself as an individual, like George Best and Eric Cantona did, and Ryan Giggs,Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Dimitar Berbatov do.

“We make heroes quickly here. Di Canio could have been in that category.”

PLAYER HE FEARS

“Well, the Celtic defender John McNamee (tough Scottish centre- back in the 1960s, when Ferguson was a striker for Celtic’s archrivals Rangers). He was a daunting figure”

GREAT SCOTS

“I think people in the west of Scotland grow up in a different climate. It’s wet, damp, unforgiving, but it does have a real part to play in forging a person’s character and determination – people like me, Jock Stein (former Celtic boss) and Bill Shankly (former Liverpool manager).”

RETIREMENT

“It’s a funny thing – the older I get, the more frightened I get of retiring. I hope and expect that my successor will be a formidable person. Because this job, believe me, is not easy. It can’t be done the same way twice.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 30th, 2008 at 7:13 pm and is filed under Cristiano Ronaldo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.