Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has no intention of telling Cristiano Ronaldo to curb his style of play.

The Manchester United winger has been at the centre of more controversy this week, having been booked for diving during the Carling Cup final before getting on the wrong end of a rough-house tackle from Newcastle Steven Taylor at St James' Park on Wednesday.

That incident led Arsene Wenger to claim there is an arrogance about Ronaldo that provokes opponents.

Ferguson insists he will not tell the Portuguese star to change his style admitting he is impressed by his courage.

"There have been many different great players over the years but they always had a touch of that nice arrogance," said Ferguson.

Courage
"They have the courage to always want the ball. It courses through them all, and there is nothing wrong with it.

"I don't see why I should tell him to stop. That is the way he plays, and I enjoy watching it. I paid £10million for that."

Ronaldo has reacted to some special treatment he has received from opposition players this season, but Ferguson believes any incident involving the current World Player of the Year is blown out of proportion.

"It is understandable if you keep getting kicked and nothing happens," added Ferguson.

"Sometimes you can lose your temper. But I think that the moments that Cristiano has shown little flashes have been nothing. They get made big things because of who he is."

Edwin van der Sar has told skysports.com no-one at Manchester United is getting carried away by the club's success this season.

The Red Devils remain on course to claim an unprecedented quintuple, with Club World Cup and Carling Cup glory already safely secured.

They continue to lead the way in the Premier League title race and have progressed safely through to the last-16 of the UEFA Champions League and the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, where they will face Fulham on Saturday.

Despite those incredible achievements this term, Van der Sar insists everyone at Old Trafford is refusing to read too much into the media hype surrounding the club, with short-term targets representing the height of their ambitions.

"No-one is talking about winning everything," the veteran Dutch keeper told skysports.com.

"We are just talking about every game as it comes and hope for the best.

"The next game is always the most important and then at the end of the season hopefully we will have taken as many trophies as possible. We have to just focus on trying to be successful."

Tourist

Van der Sar is certainly hoping to make the most of United's successes this year, with his illustrious career coming towards a close.

He has signed a contract extension which will keep him at Old Trafford until 2010, with that likely to represent the moment he steps away from the game.

By the end of the 2009/10 campaign he will have been involved in top-level football for two decades, with the 38-year-old admitting he needs some time away from the field before deciding whether or not to head into coaching or management.

"I have no plans to do that straight away, I plan to take a break," he said.

"I want to be able to spend time with my family and friends. I have spent many years travelling around staying in hotels, but not seeing anywhere.

"I want to be able to relax before I decide what to do next. I want to become a tourist!"

Sir Alex Ferguson admits he would welcome the introduction of a clampdown on foreign imports.

The Manchester United boss believes home-grown talent is essential to the future of football and admits he would support any scheme aimed at encouraging clubs to mould their own stars rather than buy ready-made models.

Fifa have already begun to examine this idea, with their 'six-plus-five' proposal gathering pace.

It appears likely that plans will be introduced in the near future which limit the number of foreign players any club side can field in their starting XI.

Ferguson, who has always looked to nurture young talent during his time at Old Trafford, would have no qualms with such a system being put into place.

"We totally support the principle of home-produced players," said Ferguson.

Development

"All countries should get round a table and agree that you should not lose the impact of youth on your club. You need to bring them through a system and you need to give them their opportunity.

"If you don't all the money spent on youth academies is a waste of time. You must encourage development in your own football club."

While locally produced players will help to save clubs money in transfer fees, Ferguson also believes the emergence of home-grown talent will help to appease supporters.

"You always feel you get more loyalty from players you produce yourself," he said.

"But it is also about the fans. Every supporter in the country, from every team, loves to see their own kids coming through the system.

"It is a fact of life and we would benefit the game by doing something about it."

Sir Alex Ferguson says he is dreading the thought of stepping down as Manchester United boss in the future.

The 67-year-old Scot believes he will find it difficult to adjust to life when he is no longer running the club he has managed for 23 years.

Ferguson told L'Equipe: "I am in the penalty shoot-out of my career but I'm scared about thinking about retirement.

"I have been on the train for so long that when I get off it, I am scared my body will shut down."

Ferguson, who won the European Cup in 1999, almost retired in 2002 but changed his mind and went on to win the Champions League again last year and is on course for a quintuple of trophies this season.

In November, he celebrated a half-century in football having won 10 Premier League titles, five FA Cups, the League Cup twice, and the Champions League twice.

Ferguson, who recently said he does not expect to continue in management past the age of 70, added: "Three reasons are going to make me say 'quit' - if my health deteriorates, if I no longer enjoy working, if I no longer have the strength to rise to the challenges.

"Each summer I ask myself these three questions. I go to see my doctor, to start off with. My age has put me on alert since I had a pacemaker set up four or five years ago.

"My doctor says, 'Boss, you are 67, your back is going to get worse and worse. There are mornings when getting up is not going to be easy'. These are the penalties."

Sir Alex Ferguson believes speculation regarding Carlos Tevez's future at Manchester United has been blown out of proportion.

The Argentina international is approaching the end of his two-year loan deal at Old Trafford, but is yet to pen a permanent contract.

With time running out, United are yet to agree a fee with Tevez's third-party owners or personal terms with the player himself.

That has led to suggestions that the 25-year-old will be heading to pastures new over the summer, with his lack of action this season only serving to fuel those rumours.

However, Ferguson insists Tevez remains part of his long-term plans and has defended his decision to rotate the forward at regular intervals this term, claiming that is part and parcel of having a squad brimming with world-class talent.

"The Tevez thing, it is a media story," the United boss told L'Equipe Magazine.

Progressing

"As he is not our player, everything that goes on with him is analysed on this premise.

"It's good for papers to say Tevez isn't playing. But when it is (Michael) Carrick, (Darren) Fletcher, (Ryan) Giggs or (Paul) Scholes, nobody could care less.

"I have 23 players. Up front, I must choose between Tevez, (Wayne) Rooney, (Cristiano) Ronaldo, (Dimitar) Berbatov, Nani, Park Ji-sung, Giggs, Scholes and some youngsters.

"You can't play them all together.

"Players like Tevez, Rooney and Ronaldo are still progressing. For me, a player reaches maturity at 26-27."

Sir Alex Ferguson has explained his reasons for rejecting all offers from Real Madrid for Fifa World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Manchester United ace was at the centre of a long-running and increasingly bitter transfer saga over the summer with the La Liga club making the Portuguese phenomenon their leading target.

Despite mixed messages from the player, the Red Devils stood firm against Real's advances with Ronaldo eventually pledging his immediate future to Old Trafford.

Ferguson was clearly angered by the continued pressure from Real, later describing them as a 'mob' and claiming he 'would not sell them a virus'.

The Old Trafford supremo insists his determination to keep Ronaldo was because he had no desire to lose the services of one of his star men, and not because of his personal feelings towards the Spanish side.

Business

Ferguson told L'Equipe Magazine: "First, you have to listen to the will of the player.

"If two clubs came to offer £100million for Cristiano and Cristiano wants to go to Madrid, do you think I could make him sign for the other club? You think I could go against his wishes?

"All I can do is advise him. But all this makes sense only if we are ready to sell Cristiano for £100million.

"We have already sold players to Madrid: Heinze, Beckham, Van Nistelrooy. We sold them those players because we wanted to.

"We didn't sell Cristiano because we didn't want to. It's just a business question, not an ethical question.

"I won't let my personal feelings influence my decision making."

Inter Milan are set to face Manchester United in the Champions League with just two fit centre-backs after losing Marco Materazzi and Nicolas Burdisso.

Both picked up injuries in the first half of Inter's 2-0 victory over Genoa.

Ahead of Wednesday's game, Inter coach Jose Mourinho said: "Christian Chivu, Walter Samuel, Materazzi and Burdisso are out."

United have their own defensive injury concerns over Rio Ferdinand's ankle and John O'Shea's hamstring.

Both players came off in the 4-0 FA Cup win over Fulham on Saturday.

"Ferdinand is a bit of a concern," said United manager Sir Alex Ferguson. "He went over on his ankle and I hope he is OK for Wednesday because he is so important to us."

The last 16 first-leg tie finished 0-0 in the San Siro last month.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has likened striker Dimitar Berbatov with Red Devils legend Eric Cantona for his match-winning capabilities.

However one area where the 28-year-old trumps the iconic Frenchman is his goalscoring record in European competitions.

Critics claimed that Cantona failed to take his inspired domestic form onto the European stage, scoring just five goals in 16 appearances from 1993 to 1997.

Berbatov has managed 32 goals in 57 European ties for CSKA Sofia, Bayer Leverkusen, Spurs and United and Ferguson is hoping that he can improve that record against Inter on Wednesday.

The Bulgarian's strike against Newcastle last week, his 13th of the season, was the fourth time since Christmas that he has scored a winner and it is for this reason why his manager has compared him with Cantona.

"Cantona used to score important goals and Dimitar does the same. He has scored four or five goals that have won us games now," he said in the Daily Express.

Emphatic

"If he keeps on scoring important goals then it is an emphatic result for us. He's well into double figures now and his is coming along nicely.

"He is finding his way to goal more which is something that doesn't surprise me as he scored more than 20 in each of his two seasons at Spurs.

"It has simply been a matter of him adjusting to our style of play along with our players getting to know his kind of game.

"He is a different type of player to what we had last season. He has got a patience and composure in the last third of the field that is helping us."

As well as his goals, Berbatov also has nine assists to his name, but he shies away from the comparison with a man who was voted the club's player of the century in 2001 by United fans and insists he is just happy if his boss is pleased with his performances.

"I am just myself. I don't want to be compared with anybody else, especially a legend like Cantona," he said.

"I don't play for myself, I play for the team. I always try to help my own team and team-mates. For me the only thing that matters is what the boss is thinking.

Enjoyment

"If he's happy, I'm happy as well. It's about enjoyment and winning games. When you win games you win trophies.

"I know some players like to give themselves a figure to aim for. That's not me. I just want to play my part in the team and help United win trophies with goals, assists and my play.

"I hope that people appreciate the assists as well as my goals because sometimes I take more pleasure making a goal than scoring myself.

"If you ask some of the guys here, I am the quiet one, I don't talk much. I prefer to listen and watch. I have been like that all my life but I don't make problems for anyone unless someone is asking for them ."

Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed he is trying to improve upon controlling his anger.

Ronaldo's treatment at the hands of opposition defenders has again been a focus of debate after an incident with Newcastle United defender Steven Taylor last week.

He has also escaped punishment himself this season after kicking out on several occasions, including clashes with Stoke full-back Andy Wilkinson and Tottenham Hotspur centre-half Michael Dawson.

The World Player of the Year accepts he is targeted by his opponents and also acknowledged his battle to keep his temperament in check.

Difficult

"I am a target of course, so it is difficult to avoid certain things," said Ronaldo in The Sun. "I try to control my anger. Sometimes it's not easy, though, and it is something I have to improve on.

"Sometimes it is difficult because of the atmosphere in the stadium and the importance of the game.

"I'm only 24, but I have a lot of experience of big games and that helps because you learn through situations.

"If someone kicks me, I get up and I go again. I am not afraid of being kicked, it is part of the game.

"I see it as a challenge that they have to kick me to stop me."

Confident

United face Inter in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League last 16 tie on Wednesday and Ronaldo is confident the holders can go through after a 0-0 draw in the first meeting in Italy.

He added: "We have to score now and we have to win. It won't be easy, but I am confident we will win.

"In the first leg we had clear opportunities and we should have taken them. But we have another opportunity and have our fans to back us up.

"It's hard to win the Champions League and the feeling it gives you is amazing. I want that feeling again and again."