United fired up for Dragons' visit

Manchester United FC may have only 48 hours' recovery time between the visit of Aston Villa FC and their quarter-final first leg against FC Porto but Sir Alex Ferguson believes his European champions will enter Tuesday's tie re-energised by Sunday's events at Old Trafford.

'Defining moment'
When Italian debutant Federico Macheda struck three minutes into added time to secure a thrilling 3-2 comeback win, he not only sent United back to the Premier League summit, but also restored hitherto flagging levels of belief. "You have to say that winning goal has just galvanised the club," said Sir Alex, who went on to describe it as a "defining moment" in their campaign.

Trademark victory
From staring a third successive defeat in the face with eleven minutes remaining, United were celebrating the kind of victory that has become the Old Trafford trademark under the Scot. "We survived some hairy moments but when it went to 2-1 then you saw Manchester United, the risk came out, everyone started playing with abandon," he said, adding: "We are sending some of our supporters into cardiac treatment, including the manager, but it is fantastic to watch."

'Going into overdrive'
Sir Alex, who said man-of-the-moment Macheda can expect a place on the bench, hopes the return of Wayne Rooney, suspended on Sunday together with Paul Scholes and Nemanja Vidić, will provide extra impetus along with Cristiano Ronaldo's return to scoring form, although Dimitar Berbatov misses out with an ankle injury. "Our team will now hopefully start going into overdrive," said the 67-year-old. He must hope this goes for his suddenly fragile defence too. United have conceded eight goals in the last three domestic outings and even if Vidić returns and Rio Ferdinand shrugs off a groin problem, they cannot afford to repeat recent wobbles against opponents who have registered two goals in each of their last three European away games.

Positive Porto
Moreover, the Portuguese champions secured an eighth successive league away win on Saturday in beating Vitória SC 3-1, and their coach, Jesualdo Ferreira, arrived promising an attacking outlook. "English teams play with speed and high intensity at home but we must not lose our identity," he said. "We have an attacking spirit, we are not going to change and we will play to win. We want a victory above all but to score a goal will be important."

Ronaldo warning
Porto eliminated United when these sides met in the 2003/04 Round of 16, their 1-1 draw at Old Trafford securing a 3-2 aggregate success. It was the only time they have avoided defeat on eleven previous visits to England but Ferreira, who could start with a front three of Hulk, Lisandro and Cristián Rodríguez, is determined his charges rise to the occasion: "We are top of our league and want to show what we can do." Sir Alex is certainly not underestimating opponents who finished ahead of Arsenal FC in the group stage, despite losing 4-0 in London. "The first thing Cristiano [Ronaldo] said to me when we had the draw is 'this is a difficult game'. We have watched them and they are a difficult side. Physically they are very strong, and Hulk up front is a very good player."