Manchester United fullback Rafael da Silva feels his game has improved rapidly this past year.

Rafael won great praise from United manager Sir Alex Ferguson for his progress.

He told manutd.com: "I'm a Brazilian and everybody knows how much we love to attack. Part of my game is going forward and I love to score goals - it's an incredible feeling. It's always been the case that I've had to think carefully about when to go forward and when to stay behind.

"I think the difference now is that I'm making more correct decisions and that's something that comes from playing regularly in the team. The same goes for my tackling. You can't always win the ball and sometimes the best thing to do is not to make a challenge. You learn when to tackle and when not to."