Ronaldo had already seen one brilliant effort equalised by Tim Cahill and it seemed United would have to settle for a draw as Everton held their own.

But when Steven Pienaar brought Ryan Giggs down, Ronaldo nervelessly converted his 16th goal of the season to move the Red Devils back to within a point of leaders Arsenal.

And the Portugal winger told Setanta One: "I think the team played very well.

"In the first half it was not too good but second half I think we played better, created more chances and I think we deserved to win.

"It's important, we've got many games coming up now and it's important always to win. At home you need to win.

"With the next games, there is not too much time to rest, so it was important to win to stay near the top."

Regarding his personal contribution, Ronaldo said: "I'm very happy with Christmas coming up. I think Father Christmas gave me my present early!

"The most important thing is the team. The game was very tough, Everton played very well and created a few bad things for us. I think the lads played very well."

mfl

Everton boss David Moyes was not too scathing about Pienaar's crucial contribution in conceding the spot kick.

"I thought it was a penalty. It was just a moment of madness for Steven," he told Setanta One.

"He's been excellent today and excellent since he's come. It was one of those things, the players worked really hard to get something out of the game.

"I thought we played well. I was really pleased to come here and put on a good performance.

"You're not going to come here and have an easy ride. I thought we were determined not to lose the game, I thought for most of the game we were well in it and I even thought we could maybe have scored ourselves."