Arsenal 1-3 Manchester United: Fergie's men a class apart

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A masterclass, not a contest, the sweetest night Sir Alex Ferguson has ever enjoyed at Arsene Wenger's expense.

For Manchester United, though, all roads now lead to Rome, to the chance of becoming the first team to retain the Champions League crown.

Of course it will be harder in the Stadio Olimpico, whether it is Chelsea or Barcelona, and Ferguson may rue the cruel red-card absence of Darren Fletcher. But while Kieran Gibbs and Manuel Almunia will struggle to come back from their parts in Arsenal's nightmare, nobody inside the Emirates could deny this was men against boys.

A week ago at Old Trafford, United had done everything except turn their superiority into goals.

When it mattered, to Ferguson's delight and Wenger's ashen-faced despair, there was never a moment when you thought they would make the same mistake twice.

It was more than a beating, more than a lesson. This was a demonstration of effortless quality, orchestrated by Cristiano Ronaldo.

His focus has been doubted this season, yet last night the Portuguese was unstoppable and relentless.

Ronaldo made Ji-Sung Park's opener before rifling home the second from seemingly infeasible distance. Ronaldo added the killer third too, finishing a brilliant counter with his 25th of the season to plunge Arsenal into utter torture before Robin van Persie's late penalty.

For Fletcher. though, there was the same anguish as Paul Scholes and Roy Keane a decade ago when he was wrongly deemed to have fouled Cesc Fabregas.

Arsenal had ridden their luck in first leg but after just 11 minutes, Wenger's team, Almunia and poor Gibbs in particular, knew the brutal truth.

No surprise either that Ronaldo, playing as the lone spearhead, was key to both goals.

The first was testament to his pace, reaching Anderson's ball through the insideleft channel ahead of Johan Djourou, zipping the ball back and wrong-footing Gibbs, whose slip was fatal.

Park did not need a second invitation, using one touch to steady himself before clipping home.

Ferguson danced his victory jig as van Persie tried to console the tearful Gibbs. And the second hammer-blow duly followed, with Almunia, the hero of the first leg, this time cast as villain.

True, Ronaldo's free-kick from fully 35 yards was hit with devastating power and accuracy, just inside the keeper's right-hand post. But it was at a very savable height.

Tie over. United simply enjoyed the freedom of the park, countering with class and quality, cutting Arsenal to pieces.

Almunia slightly redeemed his reputation with a terrific save to his left to turn aside Wayne Rooney's glorious curler.

Yet a United third looked far more likely than an Arsenal response.

Emmanuel Adebayor was as impotent as he was in the first leg, while Ronaldo tested Almunia three more times before the interval. Wenger sent Emmanuel Eboue on for Gibbs at the break but the horse had long since bolted.

Ronaldo, again killing Djourou after Park played forward, was foiled by Almunia but it was only delaying the inevitable, which duly arrived in clinical counter-attacking fashion on 62 minutes.

There were just 13 seconds from Nemanja Vidic's clearance to Ronaldo gliding in unmarked and applying the finishing touch at the other end after combining with Park and Rooney, but it felt like a lifetime for the Arsenal fans who streamed out.

Fergie took off Rooney and Patrice Evra as precautions only to suffer harshly, with Fletcher dismissed for a professional foul on Fabregas when he played the ball, van Persie's conversion of the spot-kick meaningless.

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