Rooney shows he is Manchester United's head and heartbeat

David Beckham flickered for Milan at Old Trafford but Wayne Rooney was in utterly superb form once again

Rumours of Wayne Rooney struggling for fitness have clearly been greatly exaggerated. Either that or a rest at Molineux last Saturday did him a power of good. He was certainly fit enough to carry the United attack on his own tonight, after his alleged over-exertion on the Wembley turf for England, and anyone keeping even half an eye on events these past couple of months will appreciate that that rendered Manchester United's progress into the Champions League quarter-finals something of a formality.

Rooney was not able to manage the full Nicklas Bendtner and neither could United emulate Arsenal's five goals, yet Milan are not Porto and Rooney's double was thoroughly impressive. The Italians defended with surprising naivety, and missed good chances, but the encouraging news for United, England and anyone else with an interest in goalscorers at the top of their profession was that no one could match Rooney for quality of movement or decisiveness of finish. He settled the tie as early as the 13th minute.

Everything that followed was mere decoration, even if it must be allowed that the way United opened up Milan for Rooney's second, before he went off just after the hour, will have given them every encouragement for the rest of the tournament, as will a notable aggregate scoreline.

Having put themselves in a strong position in Milan, it was disappointing for United to concede a late goal that allowed the Italians hope, but Sir Alex Ferguson's assessment was that if his side scored at home it ought to be enough to guarantee progress. There was some debate among United fans about whether Ferguson would select an attacking line-up or pack the midfield, yet the fact that Dimitar Berbatov was on the bench was misleading. While the Bulgarian has been in decent form, his pairing with Rooney is not necessarily United's best option. Most of the unstoppable performances Rooney has put in this year came up front on his own, and here was another one. The 3-2 win at San Siro – where United had never scored, let alone won – was achieved with a similar formation.