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18 March 2007, by Sean Gillen

Sensational Ronaldo tears Bolton apart

Manchester United 4-1 Bolton Wanderers

Cristiano Ronaldo produced another sensational all-round performance to inspire Manchester United to a convincing win over Bolton at Old Trafford to maintain their six-point lead at the top of the Premiership.

The Portuguese winger set up three goals inside the opening twenty-five minutes before he was replaced to a standing ovation as the Red Devils edged a step closer to their first league title in four years.

Queiroz: “Ronaldo greatest talent I have ever worked with”

United should have taken the lead early on when Ryan Giggs’ header was saved by Bolton goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen, but Ji-Sung Park somehow managed to fire the rebound over from close range.

The Korean was soon given the chance to make amends thanks to some excellent work from Ronaldo. The former Sporting star picked up possession on the left and raced to the by-line before cutting the ball back for Park to finish from ten metres.

United doubled their advantage just three minutes later, with Ronaldo again at the heart of another superb move.

Ronaldo-Rooney double act

The ball fell to the Portuguese on the edge of his own area, and Ronaldo played a rapid one-two with Rooney as the pair raced up field, ending in Ronaldo sliding the England striker through on goal and Rooney beating Jaaskelainen with a cool chipped finish.

The win was all but sealed on twenty-five minutes when Ronaldo struck a fierce left-footed shot from outside the area, which Jaaskelainen failed to deal with and Park prodded in for his second of the afternoon.

Michael Carrick went close before the break, while the second period was just five minutes old when Ronaldo could have got his name on the scoresheet, but he failed to make contact with a pinpoint Gabriel Heinze cross.

Bolton rarely offered a serious threat on the United goal, with Nicolas Anelka and El-Hadji Diouf wasting the half chances that fell the Trotters’ way as the home side looked to press for more goals.

Standing ovation

Jaaskelainen pulled off a good save to deny Ronaldo the goal he deserved, before the Portuguese was substituted with Monday’s FA Cup Quarter-Final replay with Middlesbrough in mind, and he received a standing ovation from the 76,000-strong crowd inside Old Trafford.

His replacement, Alan Smith, made an immediate impact, lofting a long ball forward to Rooney as United again exploited the visitors on the counter-attack, and Rooney finished brilliantly with the outside of his right boot.

Bolton did snatch a late consolation after referee Alan Wiley penalised Nemanja Vidic for a foul on Abdoulaye Faye inside the area, and Gary Speed stepped up to squeeze the resulting penalty underneath the left arm of Tomasz Kuszczak.

Cristiano Ronaldo:

“It was not easy. We played very well and so people think that it was easy. We knew before the game that Bolton are a great team. It was a difficult game but I think we played with confidence and a good flow. We scored three goals and finished the game in the first half.”

“We need to think only about ourselves, not about Chelsea. We are in good form, we are confident and we think only about us. There are eight games left in the Premiership and we have everything needed to win the Premiership. We are in good form and we want to keep going like that.”

Manchester United:
Kuszczak, Neville (Brown, 11), Heinze, Vidic, Ferdinand, O’Shea, Carrick, Park, Giggs (Richardson, 56), Ronaldo (Smith, 74), Rooney
Yellow Cards: Richardson (65)

Bolton Wanderers:
Jaaskelainen, Hunt, Gardner, Ben Haim, Faye, Campo (Thompson, 78), Speed, Nolan, Pedersen (Diouf, 28), Davies (Teymourian, 52), Anelka
Yellow Cards: Campo (67), Gardner (69)

Goals:
[1-0] Park, 14
[2-0] Rooney, 17
[3-0] Park, 25
[4-0] Rooney, 74
[4-1] Speed, 87 (pen)