Graphic: the best free kick in Premier League history?

As he sipped champagne from a plastic cup last May, his head still “fuzzy” from the title celebrations the night before, Sir Alex Ferguson confessed that he had spent some of the previous months wishing that someone would shoot Didier Drogba. As they watched footage of Manchester United’s latest victory, Arsène Wenger and Avram Grant might have had similarly dark thoughts about Cristiano Ronaldo.

It would be an injustice to their supporting cast to portray United’s Barclays Premier League title challenge as a one-man crusade, but, for as long as Ronaldo can continue scoring goals such as this, the superlatives will keep coming for the 22-year-old with a talent even larger than his ego.

Forget the post-match talk about whether this spectacular free kick, a vicious effort that swerved and dipped past David James, was the best in the brief history of the Premier League; ask yourself whether there has been a more devastating player on the planet over the past 18 months.

His two early goals for United last night secured a sixth straight win and a twelfth consecutive home victory in the Premier League since the opening weekend of the campaign, but, however striking their statistics might be, Ronaldo’s are better. Nine goals in his past five matches; 25 in his past 20 matches; 27 goals this season.

It was a performance that Ferguson described as “one of our best of the season” and certainly it was one that Portsmouth could not live with. Within 13 minutes Harry Redknapp’s team were 2-0 down and concerned only with damage limitation. With Paul Scholes pulling the strings in midfield and Nani, Park Ji Sung and Wayne Rooney impressing in their own ways — not to mention the continuing excellence of a defence that has been breached only once in six matches in 2008 — it would be hard to know where to start with the eulogies about United were it not for Ronaldo being in such irresistible form.

The first goal, in the tenth minute, was, by Ronaldo’s standards, a routine effort, facilitated by some abject Portsmouth defending and by the attacking instincts of Scholes and Nani, both of who were making their return to the starting line-up. Seizing on a pass by the hapless Noé Pamarot, Scholes sent possession forward to Ronaldo, who exchanged passes with Nani before sprinting into the space behind Glen Johnson and Sol Campbell. As he bore down on James, there was only going to be one outcome: 1-0.

The second was truly spectacular. David Beckham, his predecessor in the No 7 shirt, had a style of his own when it came to free kicks — eye on the ball, body curved, a shot sent in a perfect arc — and so does Ronaldo, who prefers to thrash the ball with the laces on his boot. Bend it like Beckham or crash it like Cristiano? The outcome is the same, with Ronaldo’s shot almost defying the laws of physics as it dipped and swerved past James and into the top corner. “This is my style,” he said. “I prefer to shoot like that, strong. I’m very happy with that. Very, very proud.”

If it sounds rather like a one-man show, it occasionally looked that way, but the performance of Scholes, making his first start since having knee surgery in October, should not go unmentioned. Scholes was majestic, dictating play in a manner that must have had Fabio Capello, the new England manager in the directors’ box, wondering whether there is anything he can do to coax the 33-year-old out of international retirement.

As for Portsmouth, they were wretched, aware from an early stage that they would get nothing from this game. With Pamarot and Sylvain Distin enduring a torrid time and with Milan Baros having a quiet debut, Redknapp may struggle to take any positives from the evening. At least James managed to keep the score down, diving low to his right to parry another free kick by Ronaldo, then recovering well to keep out a lob from Rooney early in the second half.

Rooney and Ronaldo took their leave soon afterwards, leaving Anderson and Carlos Tévez to pursue a third goal. Anderson showed that he has everything but composure in front of goal. Mind you, we once said that of Ronaldo — just look at him now.

Manchester United (4-4-2): E van der Sar – W Brown, R Ferdinand, N Vidic, P Evra – Park Ji Sung, M Carrick, P Scholes (sub: Anderson, 62min), Nani – C Ronaldo (sub: O Hargreaves, 74), W Rooney (sub: C Tévez, 74). Substitutes not used: T Kuszczak, J O’Shea.

Portsmouth (4-4-2): D James – G Johnson, S Campbell, S Distin (sub: H Hreidarsson, 46), N Pamarot – Lauren (sub: A Mvuemba, 46), S Davis, L Diarra, N Kranjcar – M Baros (sub: R Hughes, 79), B Mwaruwari. Substitutes not used: A Begovic, P Mendes. Booked: Diarra. Referee: M Atkinson.