Manchester Utd - 3 Blackburn Rovers - 1 For much of this season Ryan Giggs has been admired more by opponents than by certain Manchester United fans.
"I love the way Ryan Giggs plays," said Raul, the Real Madrid striker, expressing a sentiment which has been heard less than ever in the Old Trafford stands.
Now, at a crucial point, the Welshman is going a long way towards winning over his doubters.
Having helped propel United to the top of the table, more approval will come if Raul hates him by the end of Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final.
While that titanic second leg looms, Giggs has been foraging ahead in the league. An impressive display and goal as a striker in the draw at Arsenal was followed by further signs of his renaissance in the same position here.
The way he tackled Andy Cole, and started the move that culminated in Paul Scholes scoring goal number three, caught the eye. It would complete quite a week if Giggs were to inspire United to overturn a 3-1 deficit against Real.
That game has temporarily relegated any thoughts about United's exciting battle for the championship with Arsenal, which takes Alex Ferguson's side to Tottenham on Sunday and sees them finish the season with a tricky fixture at Everton.
Ahead of Real's visit there were worrying signs for United in this performance, notably how much they might miss the goals and creativity of the excellent Scholes - suspended for Wednesday but whose double followed a hat-trick at Newcastle - but also in the slackness of some early defending and the departure of Fabien Barthez with a thigh injury.
Yet, there were positives to be gleaned from the slickness of much of their attacking, the form of Giggs and that of the even more impressive Ruud van Nistelrooy.
It is as a striker rather than a wide midfielder that Giggs has enjoyed much of his best form of late and Ferguson's quandry is whether to keep him there to face Real.
Without Scholes, he must must choose whether to use Juan Sebastian Veron on the left for his first game since a knee injury sustained in March, entrust the role to Quinton Fortune or turn back to Giggs.
There is a case for keeping Giggs up front, not least in the hope that he can exploit the relative lack of pace of Fernando Hierro and Ivan Helguera at the heart of Real's back four. Here his acceleration and willingness to run at central defenders unsettled Blackburn, though he ought to have scored and twice wasted his own excellent work by delivering poor final passes.
Equally, it is unlikely to have escaped Ferguson's attention that Real's right flank has looked vulnerable in their past two matches.
Real Sociedad scored more than once from attacks down that side in a 4-2 win over the European champions and Marc Overmars supplied Barcelona's equaliser from there in Saturday's 1-1 draw, one in which he repeatedly troubled Michel Salgado. Helping out defensively is not in Luis Figo's game plan.
Giggs on the left would probably bring Ole Solskjaer in up front. Wherever Giggs operates, Blackburn manager Graeme Souness expects him to trouble Real.
"He's a fantastic player who's been criticised unfairly and maybe he's just coming on song at the right time," he said. "You can stop him doing certain things but he's got other things in his locker that you can't stop."
The same might be said for Van Nistelrooy. The header with which he gave United the lead from David Beckham's cross took his tally for the season to 38 goals from 48 club games. He provided more besides, holding the ball up well and setting up Scholes' second.
What irked Ferguson were the misses. "We should have scored more," he said, aware the title could be decided on goal difference. His players must be more ruthless.
United's win was ultimately comfortable, but Blackburn will reflect on a turning point shortly after the interval when Ricardo Lopez, having replaced Barthez, conceded a penalty for a foul on Cole at 2-1.
The keeper was not booked and then saved David Dunn's kick. "If it had happened at the other end there's no way Brad Friedel would have stayed on," said Souness.
Guardian Service
MANCHESTER UTD: Barthez (Ricardo 45), Phil Neville, Ferdinand, Brown, Silvestre, Beckham, Butt (Keane 54), Scholes, Fortune, Giggs (Solskjaer 83), van Nistelrooy. Subs Not Used: Gary Neville, Forlan. Goals: van Nistelrooy 20, Scholes 42, 61.
BLACKBURN: Friedel, Neill, Berg (Taylor 64), Short, Gresko, Dunn, Tugay, Flitcroft, Duff (Sukur 66), Cole, Yorke. Subs Not Used: Kelly, Grabbi, Todd. Goal: Berg 24.
Referee: A D'Urso (Essex).
