Cristiano Ronaldo played the captain's role to the full, scoring both goals to hand Manchester United a 2-0 win against Bolton and the advantage in the Premier League title race.
Ronaldo, given the skipper's armband for the first time by Sir Alex Ferguson, responded with a virtuoso display.
The 23-year-old opened the scoring with a mis-struck shot then ended the contest with another of those stunning long-range free-kicks.
Victory took United three points clear of Arsenal and was just the cushion needed ahead of the weekend's clashes of the big four.
• Ronaldo 'genius' sends United clear
Bolton may never have expected a result but apart from a 10-minute spell in the second half they barely put up a fight.
Even without Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs in the starting line-up, United simply swept away Wanderers, the poor crumbs on a rich man's table.
Ferguson's confidence was plain from the start as he made seven changes while Bolton boss Gary Megson made four alterations from the disastrous defeat by Wigan on Sunday.
With Ferdinand still struggling with a back problem it meant a chance for 20-year-old Catalan defender Gerard Pique to test his mettle against Kevin Davies and El-Hadji Diouf, but they did not provide even a physical challenge.
Megson's tactic of packing defence and midfield was hardly unexpected but it took less than nine minutes for United to nullify them.
Carlos Tevez threatened to score only for Ricardo Gardner to whip the ball off his toe, but from the resulting corner Ronaldo struck.
It was not the most beautiful of Ronaldo's many goals but it was crucial.
First the winger rose to head back Nani's corner, Tevez missed an overhead kick but Bolton only half-cleared and Ronaldo was swiftly there to strike a shot into the ground and home from 12 yards out.
Nani blazed over after a jinking run, but in the 18th minute Bolton put together a thrilling move that nearly earned them an equaliser.
The inspiration was Danny Guthrie, the midfielder on loan from Liverpool and Bolton's best player of the night, surging out of midfield and then down the right where he sent over a searching cross.
Davies' movement had seen him shake off Pique and he slid in at the far post only to see Tomasz Kuszczak made an excellent stop.
The costliness of that miss was hammered home as `Captain Fantastic' made it 33 goals for the season, and 24 in the league, after being fouled by Abdoulaye Meite.
It was another of those tremendous Ronaldo free-kicks that appear to defy the laws of physics - rising, dipping and swerving from 30 yards out over a six-man wall to leave Ali Al Habsi clutching thin air.
It also meant he overtook George Best's 32-goal tally - the previous best for a United winger.
Gretar Steinsson tried to get Bolton back into it but failed with a wild drive, before Tevez curled a left-footed shot into Al Habsi's arms after a scintillating dribble.
United nearly made it three in first-half injury-time as first Darren Fletcher's low drive was blocked and then John O'Shea blasted wide.
Immediately after the break Steinsson, moved to centre-back, played Bolton into further trouble by chopping down Tevez on the edge of the box.
Old Trafford awaited Ronaldo, but he was the decoy and instead Nani took the free-kick and only a sprawling dive by Al Habsi kept the ball out.
But then followed Bolton's spell of pressure and United had cause to thank their keeper.
First Davies' threatened but shot low and straight at Kuszczak, then Diouf did have the ball in the net with a quickly-taken free-kick but referee Alan Wiley ruled it out on the grounds he had not whistled for him to strike it.
Bolton did not complain too much, but when Diouf put the re-taken kick in the same spot Kuszczak was waiting for it.
The Polish keeper then performed heroics to tip over after Nicky Hunt caught a volley perfectly from 30 yards out and the ball looked destined for the top corner.
Gavin McCann was next to find Kuszczak impregnable as the keeper turned aside his low strike.
United responded to end the revival and the Ronaldo hat-trick looked odds on when he ran at the Bolton defence, performed a couple of step-overs and sent in a fierce shot but Al Habsi was able to parry his effort.
Saha should have sealed matters after a neat side-step but lost his cool and found the stands instead.
As United poured forward for a third, Nani had three decent chances in quick succession, two missed and one saved. The home fans were left cursing they had not fallen to his captain.
Cristiano Ronaldo was hailed as 'a genius' after another stupendous free-kick saw Manchester United take the advantage in the title race.
United saw off Bolton 2-0 at Old Trafford thanks to two early goals from Ronaldo, captaining Sir Alex Ferguson's side for the first time.
Ferguson believes the title race will go to the wire and heaped more praise on his skipper for the night, while opposite number Gary Megson called the winger 'the best player in the world'.
Ferguson said: 'The important thing was that we had the opportunity and the incentive to go three points clear of Arsenal, our nearest pursuers.
'It's nip and tuck now. I think it's going to go to the wire. Chelsea will be key because they have got us and Arsenal at home. It's a lead, it's not a significant lead but it's a lead nonetheless.
'With eight games to go the team who plays with the most consistency now will win it.'
Ferguson made seven changes from the side who beat Derby and claimed he needed to test out various options ahead of Sunday's meeting with Liverpool.
Gerard Pique came in for the injured Rio Ferdinand while Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs were all rested.
'It was not a great performance but it was necessary to make those changes as Rio Ferdinand is doubtful for Sunday with a back problem,' added Ferguson. 'I had to find out about Gerard Pique. We've got great confidence in the lad and he's come through very well.
'They are all top players so you have to put your faith and trust in them. At times we were a bit relaxed in the second half but when we speeded up the game and played with great penetration at times we could have scored a few more goals.
'Ronaldo's free-kick was marvellous. He does put in the practice and he has this technique.'
Ronaldo now has 33 goals this season - overtaking George Best's 32 in 1968, the most a United winger had scored in one campaign until now - and 24 in the league.
Ferguson added: 'It's fantastic and speaks volumes about the player, it's amazing that he can do that playing in the position he does.'
Megson saw some cause for hope in Bolton's fight against relegation after a good second-half display - and admitted his players were still in awe about the quality of Ronaldo's free-kick.
Megson said: 'It was genius from probably the best player in the world at the moment.
'Everyone in the dressing room afterwards was talking about how he does it. We have seen him do it twice now and the truth is we just don't know how he does it.
'But for the first goal we caused our own downfall. The marking from the corner was sloppy and when you have that sort of quality against you then you cannot afford to do that.
'If we can replicate our second-half performance then there is optimism.
'We had more shots in this game than probably any away game we have played and we need to keep it going in every game until the end of the season.'
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