Last season, United agonisingly fell at the penultimate hurdle, hammered by eventual winners AC Milan in the second leg of their semi-final at the San Siro amid so much optimism they could hold onto the slender advantage gained in the first meeting between the sides.

Sir Alex Ferguson blamed the startling collapse on an acute lack of bodies, a situation that has now been rectified, leading the Scot to boast his current squad is the strongest he has had during 21 years at Old Trafford.

Although Ronaldo has only been around since 2003, it is not a claim he would refute.

While it was the 22-year-old's stupendous injury-time free-kick that accounted for old club Sporting Lisbon last night, Ronaldo was honest enough to admit the introduction of one new face, Carlos Tevez, at half-time changed the game.

And, with rumours rife Ferguson will snare another precocious talent from Sporting in durable midfielder Miguel Veloso, Ronaldo is bullish about United's chances of emulating the European Cup heroes of 1968 and 1999.

"We have a better chance of winning the Champions League than we had last year," he said.

"We have new players and more players with quality. We have played five games so far and won them all. Everything is in place for us now, so why not? I think we can win it."

Most Old Trafford observers would recognise Ronaldo is carrying a significant proportion of those hopes on his own shoulders.

Last night's effort was his fifth goal in the competition so far this season, allowing him to keep pace with Inter Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the top-scoring stakes.

For a player who is not a recognised forward, it is a phenomenal effort. Already Ronaldo has 11 goals this term, almost half of last year's tally of 23. And, while he continues to stress the importance of winning as a team, the Madeira-born star continues to work hard on the training ground in a bid to improve his output even more.

Little wonder Ferguson has called off his annual wager with the winger.

"It is always important to score," said Ronaldo.

"I am working hard to try and better what I achieved last season.

"My confidence is high and I have five goals in the Champions League already - but I want more."

Ronaldo has heard no murmurings about another Portuguese speaker arriving some time soon, even though Ferguson's assistant Carlos Queiroz has confirmed Veloso is one of the players United are looking at.

The effective performance Veloso turned in last night would have put no-one off, with Ronaldo being quick to acknowledge his fellow countryman's quality.

"Sporting has produced many good players over the last few years and Veloso is one of them," said Ronaldo.

"He has great quality and he is young.

"I don't know anything about us trying to sign him but we could end up with quite a lot of Portuguese speakers in the dressing room, which would be very good," he laughed.

With five wins from five games, United are assured of their place at the top of Group F irrespective of the outcome of the final game against AS Roma at the Stadio Olimpico.

It is the perfect outcome for Ferguson given the Red Devils tackle Liverpool at Anfield five days later in a game which will take on added importance given his side's shock loss at Bolton last weekend.

A number of senior players are now certain to be excused the trip, offering the change for fringe men such as Danny Simpson, Jonny Evans and Gerard Pique to gain some valuable experience in a hostile environment.

Wayne Rooney and Gary Neville, who steps up his comeback from long-term injury with a reserve team outing against Sunderland at Northwich tomorrow, could also be involved.

Although up to 4,000 United fans are expected to travel to the Italian capital, a surprisingly large number given the violence that erupted on the club's last visit in April, the authorities will be relieved that with Roma also through and confirmed as group runners-up, the potential for flashpoints has, in theory, been greatly reduced.