A Brace from Wayne Rooney extinguished all hope of AC Milan progressing to the Champions League quarter finals as they were hammered 4-0 by Manchester United (7-2 on aggregate) inspired by the Englishman who has now scored 30 goals for the season.

All the build up to this Old Trafford hosted second leg was of the return of David Beckham, But by the time ‘goldenballs’ came off the bench, Rooney (who could well be the next winner of the Ballon d’ or) was ready to depart having helped his team to a 3-0 lead.

His first came after just 12 minutes when Gary Neville clipped an inch perfect cross, reminiscent of his former room-mate, for Rooney to rise above Daniele Bonera and powerfully angle yet another header into the net leaving the Italians needing three to advance. It remained that way at half time with Alex Ferguson giving his players the message: “They (Milan) have to chase and if we can get a second goal it’ll kill the tie”.

Even the Scot couldn’t have imagined that killer goal would come as soon as the 46th minute when Nani broke down the left wing and with the outside of his right boot curled a perfectly weighted ball to the edge of the area for Rooney to race onto and deftly touch it past Abbiati who cut a disconsolate figure by the time this match ended.

Ji Sung Park was second only to Rooney in inspiring the victory, and it was he who wrapped up the tie when the crowd, as they had done all night, urged Scholes to shoot, he looked willing to oblige but instead played a terrific disguised pass into the Korean, who duly controlled and shot on the angle into the far corner of the Milan net.

Rooney was the difference between the sides in an opening period where both created good chances. But the Premier League’s marksman was the most clinical striker on view.

After 20 minutes just as they had done in the San Siro, Leonardo’s side trailed off and settled into a more comfortable tempo which would give them little chance of overcoming their athletic opponents.

As the game lulled into a rhythm, Mathieu Flamini paused for a second on his own 18 yard line, perhaps caught in the headlights, as Scholes was in the process of launching an uncompromising slide tackle from what seemed like 10 meters away. The Frenchman just about passed horizontally in time to see the ginger maestro steam past, luckily for all concerned, he made no contact with man or ball.

That wonderful cameo aside, the pace of the games second quarter coupled with the build up in the English Media, meant some onlookers could have been forgiven for mistaking this for a David Beckham testimonial rather than the knockout phase of the worlds best football competition. But the Red Devils emerged from the dressing room with renewed purpose to wheel the Diavolo Rossoneri into footballs old folks home.

With the game won, the Stretford end had no-reason to fear the introduction of their former hero after the hour mark, the 34 year old was greeted by chants of: “theres only one David Beckham” and ironic boo’s whenever the free kick specialist touched the ball.

That was the signal for Ferguson to put Rooney back into cotton wool as both sides played the remainder of the game out with only the score-line still to be contested.

And that meant another battle lost by the visitors as they again could not deal with United’s crossing prowess allowing Darren Fletcher to ghost to the back stick to nod home Rafael’s cross to round up the scoring at 4-0.

Man Utd: Edwin Van Der Sar, Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra, Darren Fletcher, Paul Scholes, Ji Sung Park, Luis Nani, Antonio Valencia, Wayne Rooney.

Subs: Kuszcsak, Rafael, Evans, Gibson, Obertan, Diouf, Berbatov

AC Milan: Christian Abbiati, Ignacio Abate, Thiago Silva, Daniele Bonera, Marek Jankulovski, Mathieu Flamini, Andrea Pirlo, Massimo Ambrosini, Klass Jan Huntelaar, Ronaldinho, Marco Borriello

Subs: Dida, Zambrotta, Favalli, Gattuso, Beckham, Seedorf, Inzaghi

Ref Massimo Busacca