Del Bosque delighted at improvement in Ronaldo

Real Madrid coach Vicente del Bosque said on Wednesday that Ronaldo is finally becoming the player he wanted to sign.

The Brazilian striker, who has taken a long time to settle down at Real since his move there from his injury-blighted years at Inter Milan, struck a brilliant hat-trick to earn his side a 6-5 aggregate victory over Manchester United despite losing the second leg 4-3 at Old Trafford.

But Del Bosque said the the current World and European Footballer of the Year is again close to the form he was showing before four years of injury torment threatened to wreck his career.

"He is gradually coming into form and becoming the player we want him to be," del Bosque said after the game.

"Tonight was his night and he proved that with the goals he managed to score. We only created three opportunities for him all night, but he converted all three."

Two were brilliantly-taken long-range efforts, one was a simple tap-in, bit overall the threat posed by Ronaldo unhinged a somewhat over-awed United defence. Ultimately his goals secured Real their place in the last four and eased Del Bosque's worries as United played their part in a mesmerising tie that was always just out of the Reds' reach.

Three times on the night, the English premier league side cancelled out Ronaldo's strikes - through Ruud van Nistelrooy, Ivan Helguera's own goal and a David Beckham free kick.

Beckham then reduced the aggregate deficit to one goal as Alex Ferguson's men laid siege to the Real goal, in which goalkeeper Iker Casillas was in stunning form.

Del Bosque added: "At 1-1 at half time we were already thinking of playing Juventus in the next round."

"Certainly I was pleased that we were better position than at the start of the game, but as the game progressed I was always concerned."

"We created a lot of chances, dominated the ball and played well on the counter-attack."

"But at any stage, Manchester United were also creating chances and could have taken the tie."

"It was to-and-fro all night a draw might have been the right result, but the main thing was to get through and that is what we managed to do."

Madrid's reward for defeating old rivals United is a two-legged semi-final showdown with Juventus, with the first leg in Madrid on May 6. The return is in Turin on May 14.

Looking forward to the conclusion of the competition, Del Bosque added: "It is one Spanish team defending our title against three Italians and obviously Juventus are a team we have to respect."

"But we will be going out to retain our title the best way we can."