New Delhi: The Manchester United boss is backing his Portuguese winger to bag at least 20 goals for the third season on the trot.
Matching his exploits of last season was always going to be a tall order for Cristiano Ronaldo. However, his Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, reckons the young superstar is having another impressive campaign, and has backed him to break through the 20-goal barrier for the third successive season.
Ronaldo enjoyed a sensational season in 2007-08, when he weighed in with a remarkable 42 goals as United won the Premier League and the Champions League. His exploits earned him a raft of individual honours, and meant he would have a tough act to follow in 2008-09.
Yet Ronaldo is making a good fist of it, according to Ferguson.
"People are saying Cristiano has not had a good season, but he has got 13 goals and 11 assists (already)," said the Scot, quoted by AFP.
"If you dismiss last season altogether they would be saying it is incredible for a winger to score 13 at this stage. I am absolutely certain he will end up with over 20 again."
Nevertheless, Ferguson believes it will be impossible for the 2008 FIFA World Player of the Year to emulate last season's feats - not least because he has become one of the most heavily marked players in the Premier League.
"It's hard to replicate a season like that but I am not sure that Cristiano understood it was a miracle season," said the United manager.
"He had the belief it was normal for him and I think he just expected to carry on. But one of the situations he had to face was that this year couldn't be as good as last season.
"Now he has started to come to terms with the whole thing, we will see more goals from him."
More from Goal.comEPL predictions: Round 24I-League weekend preview: Round 13The Indian dream: Down but not out
Comments
0 comment