“I hoped that somebody would produce moments to reflect George Best,” Sir Alex Ferguson said, and he was not talking about Mikael Silvestre. Best once said that he would not watch any modern-day player, but even if he meant it, he would surely have made an exception for Wayne Rooney.

The Manchester United striker left with the Man-of-the-Match champagne and if he had grabbed one of the Hammerettes on the way to the exit, the echoes with his club’s late hero would have been complete. The best British player since Best? Ferguson is not known for wanting to elevate his young stars, but even he was drawn into making comparisons between Sunday’s match-winner and the winger of yesteryear.

A rampaging (and sometimes raging) bull to Best’s will-’-the-wisp, Rooney will need to become the European Footballer of the Year by 2007 if he is to keep pace with the Ulsterman’s achievements and he should also note that Best secured the championship at Upton Park when he was only 20.

It is, though, not Rooney’s fault that United are unlikely to overtake Chelsea at the top of the table. He is already their most important player and also their lucky talisman. He has scored in 18 games since his ?24m transfer from Everton and his team have won every one of them.

The sentiments of the day were bound to colour everyone’s judgment but Ferguson went on to describe Rooney in unusually glowing, but entirely justified, terms. “He is without question the best young player I have seen in my time,” he said. “If he keeps developing and maturing, goodness knows what he will become. At the moment, he’s a breath of fresh air in the game. He could have scored four or five goals on Sunday.”

He scored one and then won the corner (and took it) from which John ’Shea headed the winning goal. Those strikes were enough to secure the victory that propelled United to second in the table but, while the form of Paul Scholes, van Nistelrooy and Rooney suggests that they can keep keep Chelsea on their toes, the defensive lapses continue.

On the domestic front, United now have four home games against limited opponents but, the victory over Chelsea aside, Old Trafford has not been a comfortable home this season. “We’ve got to do something about it,” Ferguson said. “I just hope that they get the confidence now and settle down there.”

“George Best was one of the best players, if not the best player in the world,” Rooney said. “I have a long way to go before I reach those heights but hopefully one day in the future people will talk like that about me.”