Albion’s fans named Rob Styles as their unofficial man-of-the-match last night.

And the nomination was not as daft as they thought.

Few clubs do gallows humour as well as the Baggies and the ironic singing of Styles’ name in the stands at The Hawthorns was the perfect damning indictment of his dismal display.

And yet, in the most perverse way imaginable, the Premier League’s most notorious official did Tony Mowbray’s side a great service.

Albion were ripped apart by an awesome display of quality from the world and European champions. It was a demolition job of massive proportions.

Yet the most awful Premier League refereeing performance that most observers could remember ensured the Baggies’ shortcomings against the country’s most ruthless outfit went virtually unnoticed.

The league’s bottom side were hammered out of sight with 10 men but were still applauded from the field with all of the crowd’s anger reserved for Styles.

It was a scoreline that could have destroyed belief in the Albion camp at a time when Premier League survival has returned to the agenda.

But thanks to Mr Styles the home side had a ready-made scapegoat who acted as a magnet for every word of criticism from the Hawthorns faithful.

The referee deserved everything he got. His display of posing, grandstanding and posturing was somewhere between incompetent and comical.

His decision to dismiss Paul Robinson at the end of the first half was the one that changed the game.

But it was in the second half that the man in the middle lost control completely, brandishing five yellow cards to Baggies players to a chorus of growing incredulity from the stands.

Robert Koren, Ryan Donk, Scott Carson and James Morrison were booked for supposed shows of dissent and Roman Bednar joined them for ‘scoring’ after the whistle was blown – effectively accused of time-wasting with his team 4-0 behind.

In truth, another referee would not have changed the result. The gulf in class was so great that United were always certain to win.

But Mr Styles’ performance might well have influenced the scale of the Baggies’ defeat as they toiled for more than 45 minutes with a one-man disadvantage against a United side who sniffed blood and showed no mercy in their pursuit of another Premier League title.

Ordinarily, a defeat on this scale would have left the Baggies reeling. Thanks to Mr Styles, however, they might well rally in the face of a perceived injustice.

United had the first sight of goal in the third minute when Styles missed a foul by Cristiano Ronaldo on Robinson and the visitors broke through Dimitar Berbatov but the Bulgarian fired straight at Scott Carson.

However, it was Albion who caused more of the early alarms in front of goal.

First Edwin Van der Sar punched a corner half-clear to the edge of the box from where Borja Valero hit a shot that was cleared off the line, albeit comfortably, by Michael Carrick.

And when Jay Simpson got the better of Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand had to step across to deflect the youngster’s cross for a corner.

With 15 minutes gone, the Baggies could be pleased with their efforts.

They even weathered something of a United storm for a few minutes more but the pressure began to build. And, with 22 minutes gone, it told.

The home side’s defending will not have pleased Mowbray but, as a student of football, he would have admired the precision with which United cut his back four apart.

Some intricate passing dragged Albion out of position before a piercing one-two between Berbatov and Michael Carrick exploited a gap and the Bulgarian beat Carson.

By the 40-minute mark forward moves were a rarity for the Baggies, never mind chances, so the opportunity Gianni Zuiverloon squandered seemed like a key incident.

He collected Marc-Antoine Fortune’s knock-down in the box and lifted his shot over.

Albion looked set to hang in until the interval, but in the final moments of the half the face of the game changed.

First came the sending off of Robinson, whose tackle on Park was risky but honest. The stand-in skipper’s indignation at the sight of the red card told its own story.

Referee Styles was now a marked man at The Hawthorns but fans watching the replay of the second United goal would have found it hard to blame the official this morning.

By the time Nemanja Vidic made the slightest of contact with Carson the keeper had already fumbled Ryan Giggs’s corner. Tevez seized on the error to wrap up the points for the Baggies.

By half-time, Albion were deep into damage limitation territory and defender Marek Cech replaced striker Fortune for the second half to restore the hosts to full staffing levels at the back.

They won a free kick early on when Brunt was chopped down by Gary Neville but, after a slapstick routine by the referee to force the United wall back 10 yards, Brunt lashed the free-kick a few inches over the bar.

There was a moment of magic to cheer the Baggies faithful when Ryan Donk displayed his undoubted attacking qualities with a surging run from centre-back.

He drove from halfway and continued his run into the box as Simpson and Zuiverloon exchanged passes on the edge of the box to feed their young centre-half.

But his vicious drive rattled the woodwork with Van der Sar beaten.

That was Albion’s last glimmer of a comeback as, two minutes later, they were 3-0 down. Giggs delivered a decent corner from the right, Pele lost touch with Vidic and the Serbian fired a bullet header past Carson.

The visitors now had licence to turn on the style and they were not about to reject the invitation. When Giggs sprang the Albion offside trap, the veteran was never likely to be caught and he squared cooly to give Ronaldo the simplest of finishes.

That made it 4-0. And there were still 25 minutes left for the Baggies to steer clear of further humiliation.

The visitors were ruthless moments later as they cut through Albion again. Berbatov got the benefit of an offside decision that was much more marginal than it appeared at full speed.

And the rest of the move was perfect as Berbatov teed up Ronaldo for another straightforward finish.

Five-nil, but this night will be remembered for a one-man show.

And that is the tragedy.

By Steve Madeley.