Ronaldo fires United eight points clear

Roque Santa Cruz was the man who did the damage, rounding Tomasz Kuszczak after Edwin van der Sar had been rested to tap home and level Wayne Rooney's opener.

But Ronaldo had saved something special for the occasion too, whipping home a brilliant free-kick which had too much pace for Paul Robinson to put United eight points clear and keep Rovers in the bottom three.

England striker Rooney had previously opened the scoring as he scored with his first touch as Ryan Nelsen stretched to reach Nani's cross and succeeded only in prodding the ball slightly nearer his own goal, Rooney gleefully finished.

Nelsen had already saved a certain goal when he hooked the ball away from Michael Carrick's head.

The Red Devils have been waiting for a spectacular Ronaldo free-kick for some time and, having lost out at one end, Ronaldo did the business at the other.

Robinson must have been expecting a cross after Keith Andrews had sent Patrice Evra flying on the left edge of the box.

Instead, the former England goalkeeper was beaten by raw pace as the ball flashed into the roof of his net.

Having lost one lead, it seemed unlikely the hosts would do it again. Yet Rafael Da Silva was incredibly lucky to escape without a caution when he had his hands wrapped round Morten Gamst Pedersen via the shoulders in the box.

Pedersen went down. referee Howard Webb said no. On the touchline, Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce erupted in a rage and got involved in a heated exchange with Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, with whom he had shared a convivial post-match drink at the same ground on Wednesday.