Cristiano Ronaldo delivers at the double.

There have been men, usually in cricket, whose game has been disfigured by the cares of captaincy but Cristiano Ronaldo is not one of them. His manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, said he had been "crying out for the responsibility" of leading Manchester United and last night he seized it.

It would be hard to imagine his dressing-room speech was especially Churchillian but, in terms of leading by example, two goals in the opening 20 minutes ought to suffice. These were his 32nd and 33rd of what is already a remarkable season and, as so often at Old Trafford, he played like a prince.

Ronaldo's goals ensured that United's game in hand was converted into a three-point lead over Arsenal, although at Old Trafford it is Chelsea's results that are being studied with the greater anxiety. The astonishing scoreline from White Hart Lane was greeted with a vast, echoing cheer by the emptying arena.

Five years ago on a fetid, airless August afternoon, Ronaldo made his debut for United and dazzled Bolton with skills that were part football video, part circus tricks. Since then, he has matured far more in football terms than he has in years, and with a stunning, trademark free-kick he passed George Best, who was never remotely thought of as captaincy material, for the hitherto little known record of the most goals scored by a Manchester United winger.

"We don't make a big issue of the captaincy here," Ferguson said. "But Cristiano has been looking for a long time for that kind of responsibility and he carries the mantle very well."

There was a time that Ferguson would have been accused of sending out a weakened side. With the core of his United squad rested for Sunday's encounter with Liverpool, they were young - the average age of the midfield was 21 - and thrillingly talented. And they were far too good for Bolton.

The key was a back injury to Rio Ferdinand that threatens his participation in the game that Ferguson, like most United fans, still considers the most important of the season - against Liverpool. If he has to face Fernando Torres on Sunday, it was crucial Gerard Pique received some match practice. Wes Brown was likewise rested to give Owen Hargreaves a turn at right-back, a position he sometimes occupied for Bayern Munich.

Even John O'Shea, taking his lead from his captain, indulged in the odd, twinkling run against a Bolton midfield that their manager, Gary Megson, had packed supposedly to deny space to players less aggressive than O'Shea.

Bolton were never remotely close to repeating their 1-0 victory at the Reebok in November and, in truth, they were flattered by the margin of defeat. But, as Ferguson remarked, they were tenacious, especially in the second half when they had two goals disallowed.

However, as against Wigan, they paid for a dreadfully sluggish start and a fixture list containing Arsenal, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Manchester City now looks as intimidating as the Matterhorn in midwinter, especially for a side who have lost five matches straight.

A minute before Ronaldo opened the scoring, Bolton were given a warning of what to expect as Carlos Tevez took a return pass from Louis Saha on his chest, guided the ball past Ali Al-Habsi, only for Ricardo Gardner to shepherd it out for a corner. It would keep Bolton safe for all of 30 seconds. They had several opportunities to clear the corner, took none of them and saw Ronaldo's shot, delivered from 12 yards, crash into the net.

It was spectacular, but not by the standards of what was to follow. Ronaldo's free-kick against Portsmouth was debated as being the best the Premier League had seen but this, delivered from 30 yards, was exceptional. It curved, swerved, dipped and finished in the bottom corner.

Al-Habsi contributed substantially to his own downfall by standing slap bang in the middle of his goal, where he was able to protect neither corner. He did considerably better when Nani curled a free-kick around the wall two minutes after the restart but the damage had long since been done.

Too late, Bolton showed signs of life; Tomasz Kuszczak was forced into a couple of fine saves and Nemanja Vidic was forced off with a bloodied nose, but the last time Bolton had done the double over United was in 1979's Winter of Discontent - which might serve as a title for their end-of-season DVD.



Fonte: www.telegraph.co.uk
Imagem: Alex Livesey/Getty Images