Manchester United 3 Bolton 1:It is not a subject that Alex Ferguson likes to discuss but there is a school of thought at Old Trafford - not least among some of the senior players - that, contrary to his public utterances, the oldest manager in the business may retire if Manchester United finish the season on a suitable high.
"I am not going to leave this club as a loser," Ferguson once said, and what better way to bow out than with a Premiership and/or Champions League medal in his top pocket? The alternative argument is that a crowbar would be needed to prise Ferguson away from his desk at a time when Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo are engaged in this increasingly bewitching contest about who should be recognised as the most exciting exponent of their art in world football.
A whole host of superlatives would be needed to analyse their performances on Saturday, a match that could conceivably register as United's finest display this season given the list of absentees and the early loss of Gary Neville through injury.
Rooney's goals were exemplary: a 60-yard dash and deft chip over Jussi Jaaskelainen for his first and a shot with a sharp arrowhead at its end for his second. Ronaldo had to go some way to outstrip his colleague yet he managed it so beautifully that Carlos Queiroz, Ferguson's assistant, would describe the winger as the best player he has ever worked with.
It was some compliment from a man who has coached, among others, Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane and the question was this: has any other player in United's history, even the great George Best, shimmered with such menace when in possession?
To see Ronaldo right now is to witness a man completely at love with his work, a footballer playing as though nothing comes more naturally. The Portuguese winger is still to cross the line between great footballer and football great but he is firmly on course and the beauty of it is that he refuses to do it the conventional way.
Sam Allardyce, the Bolton manager, argued that his defenders had made Ronaldo look good. The truth was that Ronaldo had made them look bad.
"He's a player that Manchester United cannot afford to lose," Allardyce acknowledged. "Whatever it takes to keep him they have got to do it and, after that, they just have to hope that he wants to stay. That's the key."
That last sentence suggests Allardyce is dubious about whether Ronaldo will sign a new contract and resist the lure of Real Madrid, having publicly declared a desire to move to the Bernabeu last summer.
"He can look at Spain later on, maybe, but he certainly shouldn't be moving there at this stage in his career," said Allardyce. "If it's Real Madrid, that would be a mistake because they're not the right club for him. There's no development at Madrid, there's only decline. Manchester United have a young team that is developing. They're top of the league and still involved in the three major competitions. This is the right club for Ronaldo."
Ferguson will drink to that after seeing Ronaldo inspire United to a 3-0 lead inside 25 minutes, setting up Park Ji-sung for both his goals, playing in Rooney for his first.
Gary Speed's 86th-minute penalty was a mere footnote and the home side's dominance was such that Ferguson could withdraw Ryan Giggs early in the second half with tonight's FA Cup quarter-final replay against Middlesbrough in mind.
