<span class="titolo">Hard Work Will Start In Spring, Says United's Carrick</span></p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p> <span class="sommario">Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick says the Red Devils must prove how good they when the Champions League knockout rounds begin in February.</span></p> After the final group stage matchday in two weeks' time, the Champions League goes into cold storage for winter, the first knockout stage kicking things off again on 19th February.</p> Manchester United boast the only 100 per cent record in this season's group stage to date, winning all five of their Group F matches including Tuesday's at home to Sporting, when Cristiano Ronaldo hit the winner in stoppage-time to secure top spot in the section.</p> Midfielder Michael Carrick says the squad are pleased to have achieved their first objective of progressing through to the knock-out phase as group winners, but, he knows the real test will come in the later stages of the competition.</p> "A 100% record is something to be proud of," Carrick told United's official website.</p> "We set out to top the group and have managed to achieve that but the hard work really starts in the spring.</p> "Obviously, we will now have to wait and see how the draw goes, but we realise the biggest tests are still to come and we will need to be at our best when the competition starts again after Christmas."</p> Carrick was particularly pleased that United managed to bounce back from their 1-0 weekend defeat at Bolton, and he's hoping the victory over Sporting proves to be the start of another lengthy unbeaten run.</p> "Winning is such a nice habit to get into and we have managed to do that of late," he said. "We had a bit of a blip on Saturday but these things happen.</p> "The same kind of thing happened last season, it is how you bounce back that counts. We have managed to bounce back immediately with a win and hopefully we can carry it on."</p> </div></p>
