The tradition of being booed has followed Cristiano Ronaldo from England to his home-country Portugal. The Manchester United player was received with jeers from Benfica fans in his team's UEFA Champions League match at the Estadio da Luz on Tuesday. "Since the World Cup I've been booed in many games in England too but I'm getting used to it," the Portugal international told uefa.com. "Today I did not react. I was expecting it," he added. The 21-year-old former Sporting winger chose to respond on the pitch with a dazzling performance.
United went on to win the game 1-0, courtesy of a second-half Louis Saha strike. "It was a very difficult game because Benfica are a strong team. They played very well in the first half but we were better in the second. We controlled the match and deserved the win overall." Ronaldo's galactic performance earned him praise from coach Alex Ferguson. "Ronaldo is now a more mature player and showed it against a hostile public," said the United coach. "He's improving every day; he has lots of confidence and takes half the defence with him when he runs with the ball."
