Real Madrid "very happy" to have Cristiano Ronaldo

Any hopes that Manchester United had of being able to tempt Real Madrid into selling Cristiano Ronaldo have been dealt a blow by a former striker of the Spanish outfit.

Recent reports have suggested that Sir Alex Ferguson was keen to be reunited with the Portuguese attacker, who joined Real from United in 2009 for a world record fee of £80m.

However, Emilio Butragueno, who is now a senior director at the Bernabeu, has insisted that Los Blancos are "very happy" to have a player like Ronaldo to call upon.

"Ronaldo is 28. He is under contract [until 2015] and we are very happy with him. We are delighted he is at Madrid. He is a fantastic professional and very ambitious in a positive way," Butragueno is quoted as saying by The Guardian. "His contribution to the team and the club has been amazing since he arrived. We are very grateful he came to us. We are very lucky that he plays for Real Madrid.

"He scores a goal a game on average. This is incredible. I have been watching football since I was three and never saw anything similar. When Ronaldo is on the pitch, you know you are going to score. It is an incredible advantage."

Ronaldo scored twice over the two legs as Real knocked his former employers out of the Champions League last week.