CRISTIANO RONALDO has been repeatedly getting under the skin of Roma's players over the last year and, for one particularly chastened member of the giallorossi, it has all become too much.

"There is no doubt that he has quality, but it is also true that he has a big head," David Pizarro, the former Chile international, sniped in a diatribe that also included references to a "very arrogant" player doing "spiteful things".

Pizarro was referring to Ronaldo's fondness for grinding down opponents with his full range of improvisational skills. Yet his comments smacked of sour grapes after Ronaldo's brilliance in the Stadio Olimpico on Tuesday instigated a 2-0 win for Alex Ferguson's team that all but extinguishes Roma's hopes of maintaining an Italian presence in the Champions League.

"Ronaldo? He's just a big-head. Some of his little tricks in the middle of the pitch were unnecessary and he needs to show some respect to his opposition," said Pizarro.

"He is a great champion, but he is also very arrogant. He does spiteful things on the pitch. This is the ugliest thing for any player and, in the return leg, I will have something to say to him. You can bet that we will all have something to say about it."

It is not the first time Ronaldo's showboating has left him open to accusations of "disrespecting" opponents, just as Arsène Wenger accused Nani of the same thing after Arsenal's 4-0 defeat in the FA Cup fifth round in February. Yet now, just as then, it is not something that will unduly trouble the player in question.

"It's nothing against my rivals," Ronaldo responded. "The things I do are just part of my way of interpreting football. I have a certain attitude but I have always had that and I always will. But I do it for the good of the team and never to ridicule my opponents. I want to do my best for Manchester United but it's not showing off. I don't play the fool with anybody. I respect my adversary. If someone thinks my moves are mockery then they are wrong. It's simply that this is the way I play."

As the leading scorer in the Premier League and the Champions League, Ronaldo scarcely needs to apologise or, indeed, explain himself. The most devastating player in English football now has 36 goals this season, having opened the scoring in Rome with a header that Ferguson described as a "true centre-forward's goal".

Ronaldo said: "To be honest, I don't remember much about the goal. I went down and I felt pain. I didn't enjoy it. But I will have time to watch it on television - others say it's a good goal."

But he added: "I think the second goal killed the game off. We had several chances after to score more goals but a 2-0 win is a good result."

It will have come as little surprise to those at Old Trafford that reports have resurfaced of Real Madrid wanting to lure him.

"Some day, he will be with us," said Bernd Schuster, the Madrid coach. "For me, Ronaldo has already overtaken Kaka (as the world's best player). However, the best thing in this sort of situation is to be realistic. Ronaldo right now is a 10 out of 10, the best in the world, but I don't see Manchester United being in the business of selling. In the short term I cannot see it being feasible, but I will say that, in a couple of years, I think he may wear the white shirt at the Bernabeu. He is the star at Old Trafford and, until he wins a Champions League and some more Premier League titles, they are not going to allow him to escape."

United have grown wearily accustomed to Madrid making this sort of overture and Ferguson believes it is a concerted campaign to unsettle a player who has never concealed the fact he would like to play in Spain. But he is encouraged by the fact Ronaldo is clearly happy at Old Trafford, where he is playing the best football of his life.

"The team is very confident at the moment," said Ronaldo. "I feel the team is more mature and I am more mature, too. In fact, at the moment the team is brilliant.

"Everyone is so confident. We are playing nice football and with such maturity. When we're playing like this, is there a better team in Europe?"