Ronaldo Double Sends United Back to Summit

Another two goals, another match-winning performance, another team brutally dispatched by the player with tangerine boots and gelled hair. The eulogies are beginning to sound a tad repetitive, but nobody at Manchester United will mind while Cristiano Ronaldo is bewitching Old Trafford and, one by one, seeing off all the other contenders for his title as the most devastating player in the Premier League.

Has there ever been a player at Old Trafford with such a repertoire? The question has to be asked, even in the arena where George Best's legend was created, because Ronaldo is rapidly becoming what is termed in football as "unplayable." His two goals last night ensured United return to the top of the League and, if they finish there at the end of the season, there can be no disputing that the Portuguese international has made the greatest contribution of all.

Ronaldo now has 27 goals this season and it is beginning to feel a question of when, rather than if, he catches and then overhauls Best, who established himself as the most prolific winger in United's history by scoring 32 times in the 1967-68 season, en route to being voted European Footballer of the Year.

"Cristiano is threatening to rewrite the record books," said Ferguson. "I don't want to put pressure on the lad, except to say that he seems to thrive on expectation and the targets people set him. Considering he is scoring at the rate of almost a goal a game, I certainly won't be betting against him."

A more intriguing bet would be whether Ronaldo can become the first player since Denis Law in 1963-64 to score 30 times for United in the league and, even if he is still 11 short of that target, he is playing with such panache and thrilling arrogance it would be a brave man to discount him from getting there.

Most of the accolades last night will surround his second goal, a swerving, dipping, arrowing free-kick into the top corner of David James' goal. James, on his 500th league appearance, stood almost motionless, like a stalagmite, his only flicker of movement as he turned his head to see his net billow. The ball had travelled more than 30 yards through the air but it would be unfair on James to apportion blame his way - and even more unjust, indeed, on the scorer given the expertise with which he struck the shot.

His first was a more sedate affair although, that said, it was still a hugely attractive goal, some slick, one-time passing and movement leaving a huge void in the Portsmouth defense before Ronaldo applied the finishing touch. Nani's one-two with Ronaldo was measured to perfection and the country's leading scorer, playing last night as a center-forward rather than in his customary wing position, slipped the ball past the oncoming James as if it were nothing more demanding than a routine training drill.

Ferguson's men were so utterly dominant throughout the first half it was something of a mystery that they did not add an even greater sheen to their goal difference.

Edwin van der Sar had barely a scrape of mud on his knees while, at the opposite end, James wore a permanently anguished expression. Ronaldo can do that to opposition goalkeepers.