The Portuguese winger faces Portsmouth in the FA Cup quarter-final at Old Trafford on Saturday having taken his goals tally this term to 30 goals with the first-half strike that sealed a 1-0 Champions League victory over French champions Lyon in midweek.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson had dismissed Ronaldo's chance of breaking the 30-goal barrier earlier this season, but the Madeira-born star can now set his sights on hitting the 40-goal mark with the campaign reaching its decisive stage.

But despite the prospect of rewriting the record books with his strike-rate, Ronaldo insists that his driving force is to score the goals that deliver silverware this season.

He said: 'At the moment I feel very good. I've scored a few important goals and I want to keep going like that. I want to score more goals.

'But the most important thing is for the team to win games and trophies.

We're playing really well and we're in three competitions, but now we need to be strong for 15 more games to finish the season.

'Portsmouth are the next obstacle for us and they are a strong team and always difficult to beat. But we are playing at home and I think we have a great chance to go through to the semi finals.'

United are firmly in contention to repeat their Treble success of 1999 after closing the gap on Premiership leaders Arsenal to just one point in recent weeks.

Last month's shock defeat at home to Manchester City has been followed by four wins and a draw in all competitions and United's Serbian defender Nemanja Vidic admits that the loss to City has galvanised Ferguson's team.

Vidic said: 'I think losing to City was a wake-up call and helped us realise that if we don't play to our best then we won't necessarily win. Look at us now. We're playing better than ever and we're only point behind Arsenal in the league.

'We're doing well right now and I hope we'll keep this momentum going.

Every game is crucial now and it's important we keep our shape and don't lose too many goals.' Portsmouth, who eliminated Preston North End in the previous round, have won the FA Cup just once in their history and that success came just before the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.

But Harry Redknapp's team have proven their ability to test the big four this season having taken points off United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool at Fratton Park.

And although Saturday's clash sees them travel to United, French defender Sylvain Distin insists that Portsmouth are capable of emerging victorious.

Distin said: 'Every year in the FA Cup or Carling Cup there's a result everyone calls a miracle, but it's not. It's just a case of a side considered the underdogs thinking, 'we're going to win', and then fighting from the first second.

'I'm not going to United to avoid defeat, I'm going there to win. If you go there to avoid defeat, mentally you are not ready.

'If we beat United, we will then be on the way to doing something really good, but it will really disappoint me if we win and then lose in the semi-final.' -- AFP