Manchester Utd 4; Bolton Wanderers 0: Perhaps it is a good job Ruud van Nistelrooy's mentality is geared more towards team awards than individual honours. In scoring for the ninth successive league game he broke a 47-year-old club record, yet it scarcely merited a mention in the afterglow of Manchester United's biggest opening-day victory for 18 years and the most exhilarating debut of any player at Old Trafford for as long as memories stretch back.
Cristiano Ronaldo, with sixth-form stubble and magic in his feet, may have taken the shirt vacated by David Beckham but it is another distinguished former custodian of the number seven jersey with whom he draws more legitimate comparisons. The impudent way he shows the ball to opponents then, in the blink of an eye, ghosts past their challenges is reminiscent of George Best, and there is no greater compliment.
There are also shades of Eric Cantona, given the way his new admirers in the stands implored those in red to give him the ball whenever Alex Ferguson's team were in possession, and how they rose en masse once their wish was granted. Ferguson, usually so averse to hyping young players, declared there was a "new hero" to cherish.
Even Sam Allardyce, chastened in defeat, wanted to recognise the emergence of such a precocious talent, a player who showed in 29 minutes as a substitute why, at £12.2 million, the men in power at Old Trafford were willing to make the Portuguese the most expensive teenager in the British game.
Allardyce had been given inside knowledge of Ronaldo's repertoire from his new signing Mario Jardel, a former team mate at Sporting Lisbon but whose late registration and subsequent ineligibility was a setback for Bolton.
"After what Mario told us we were hoping he (Ronaldo) wouldn't even be on the bench," said the Bolton manager. "He reminds me of Ryan Giggs when he first started - he can go inside, outside, uses both feet and runs at people. Everyone holds their breath when he gets the ball."
Equally as endearing was the lack of histrionics when Nicky Hunt, Bolton's young right-back, flattened Ronaldo within 30 seconds of his introduction and, cynically, Ricardo Gardner scythed through his calves later on.
Ronaldo does not play-act in the shabby manner of a Luis Figo or Rui Costa, both compatriots. His retort is to torment opponents with the ball and gradually strip them of dignity. By the time Gardner became the fourth Bolton player in Paul Durkin's book the 18-year-old had won a penalty, instigated Giggs's second goal and generally created havoc every time he had the ball. Some may guard against building him up, but nobody could have left Old Trafford without believing they had just witnessed the emergence of a superstar in waiting.
Ferguson is reluctant to dwell on any player as he believes it detracts from the collective effort, and Ronaldo was not the only success story.
Tim Howard was agile and alert in goal, enough to have Fabien Barthez leaving his seat 10 minutes before the final whistle, while Eric Djemba-Djemba played, in Ferguson's words, like "he has been with us two years".
