Ronaldo 'thrilled' to help fire Madrid through

Cristiano Ronaldo revealed that his desire to see Real Madrid CF reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals at the expense of Olympique Lyonnais was so great he battled through the pain barrier to ensure the right result in Wednesday's second leg.

The Portuguese international remained doubtful with a thigh complaint right up to kick-off in the 3-0 home victory against last season's semi-finalists. It was only after a late discussion with coach José Mourinho that the 26-year-old declared himself ready to play. "I was struggling out there, to be honest," Ronaldo said. "I wasn't 100% fit, but it was me who made the decision to play. Mourinho asked me and I said, 'Let's go for it.'"

The move paid off for the nine-time European champions, who went into the round of 16 decider on the back of a 1-1 draw in France. Towards the end of the first half at the Santiago Bernabéu, Ronaldo fed a delightful pass to Marcelo in the build-up to the Brazilian's opener to spark what was eventually a convincing night's work.

"We're all thrilled," the former Manchester United FC winger added. "It was really important that we qualified for the quarter-finals as the club had gone six seasons without that."

Further goals from Karim Benzema – whom Ronaldo described as "crucial" to the cause – and Ángel Di María ensured the Liga side advanced to Friday's quarter-final draw for the first time since 2004. Now that they are there, Ronaldo is unsure about who he would prefer to face.

"Maybe we'd like to meet one of the smaller teams, but can you really say that of any side that has reached the last eight?" he said. "Whoever remains in the competition is there on merit and we need to be wary of everyone. Barcelona for me would represent the most difficult challenge and maybe it would be better to come up against them further down the line. We could even see Raúl [González] return home, but let's wait and see what happens."

Captain Iker Casillas also felt that the former Madrid striker's reappearance at the Santiago Bernabéu "would be something very special", yet would rather hold on for any meeting with FC Schalke 04 "until the final at Wembley".

The Madrid and Spain No1 added: "Whatever the outcome of the draw, it just feels great to be back among Europe's top eight teams and I think we deserve to be there. We know that any team that comes here will find it difficult because of the strength of our fans and the passionate support they give."