In the closing stages of this master-class, as the rain lashed down on Old Trafford and thousands of spectators opted to make an early getaway, something remarkable happened. Anderson, Manchester United’s wonderfully talented Brazilian substitute, struck one of his characteristic cross-field passes and, far away on the right-hand touchline, Wayne Rooney applauded as the ball flew 50 yards towards his right boot, with which he brought it down, before proceeding goalwards.

On this occasion, nothing was to come of Anderson’s pass or Rooney’s close control, with United having to settle for four goals against Aston Villa, but in one sense that cameo was almost as memorable as Cristiano Ronaldo’s latest wonder goal. It was a moment that encapsulated something of Rooney’s delight in playing for this United team of many talents and, coming three days after he grimaced his way through England’s dreary friendly international against France in Paris, it was a joy to see him enjoying his football again.

On his way out of the Stade de France on Wednesday, Rooney did not stop to speak to reporters, but on Saturday evening, after a stellar performance and his first two goals in eight appearances for his club and country, he was, at least by his standards, effusive. At one point, unprompted, he likened this United side to the Brazil teams he used to watch on television when growing up. “To play that kind of football in this team,” he said, “I love it.”

It was an evening, like so many others this season, when Ronaldo made the headlines by scoring a magnificently impudent goal, an instinctive flick of his right boot inconceivable in such a crowded penalty area, but it was also one on which Rooney emerged from his teammate’s shadow to produce some Brazilian moments of his own.

David Moyes, his manager at Everton, his former club, once described Rooney as a “street footballer”, blessed with a spirit and a devilment that is lacking among the cossetted products of today’s youth academies, and to watch the 22-year-old strut his stuff on Saturday alongside Carlos Tévez, Anderson and Ronaldo - the latter Portuguese by birth, but South American in spirit – it would have been easy to regard this as football in the favelas were it not for the archetypal Mancunian weather.

Villa could not cope. The statistics said that their patched-up team had rivalled United in most areas – shots on target, shots off target, corners, possession – but Martin O’Neill, their manager, did not attempt to clutch at such straws. “They are playing fantastically,” he said. “They’ve got great confidence within themselves and great confidence in their own ability and in each other’s ability.”

No footballer on the planet is blessed with greater self-confidence than Ronaldo right now. Few players would have dreamt of trying to flick the ball through a crowd as the ball dropped in a congested penalty area from Ryan Giggs’s corner in the seventeenth minute, but not only did he do so, sticking out his right foot behind him and sweeping the ball goalwards, he summoned enough power to beat Scott Carson. “People don’t appreciate the skill and the confidence you need to pull that off,” Rooney said. “It’s a pleasure to play with him and quite rightly he is labelled the best player in the world at the moment.”

If there has been one criticism of Ronaldo it is that he has become so consumed by scoring that his overall performance level and his teamwork have not been as high as last season. His workrate does not begin to rival that of Rooney or Tévez, who are more often the ones who track back to support Wes Brown, the right back, while the Premier League’s statistics indicated before Saturday’s game that Ronaldo had made only three “assists”, in contrast to last season, when he set up 15 goals, more than any other player in the league.

On Saturday, however, having set the ball rolling with his 35th goal of the campaign, he doubled his tally of league assists for the season by setting up Tévez with a pinpoint cross in the 33rd minute and then Rooney twice. Rooney had snatched at two earlier opportunities, but he took his subsequent chances with the confidence of a player at the top of his game.

Confidence flows through this team from front to back – not least through Michael Carrick, excellent on Saturday, having been overlooked by England. Carrick is entitled to wonder what he has done wrong, but he should not lose too much sleep over it. As they close in on another Premier League title, playing for United looks infinitely more pleasurable than playing for England.

How they rated

Manchester United (4-2-4): T Kuszczak 7 W Brown 6 R Ferdinand 7 N Vidic Y 6 P Evra 6 M Carrick 8 P Scholes 8 C Ronaldo 9 W Rooney 8 C Tévez 7 R Giggs 7 Substitutes: O Hargreaves 6 (for Ferdinand, 61min), J O’Shea 5 (for Evra, 61), Anderson 6 (for Carrick, 61). Not used: B Foster, Park Ji Sung. Next: Middlesbrough (a).

Aston Villa (4-4-2): S Carson 5 N Reo-Coker 5 O Mellberg 4 M Laursen 5 W Bouma Y 5 G Agbonlahor 4 S Petrov 5 G Barry 6 L Young 6 M Harewood 4 J Carew 5 Substitutes: S Maloney 6 (for Carew, 42min), M Salifou 4 (for Harewood, 69), I Osbourne (for Bouma, 80). Not used: S Taylor, Z Knight. Next: Bolton Wanderers (h).