FIVE years ago, former Middlesbrough coach Gordon McQueen found himself at something of a loose end while on holiday in Spain.

Choosing to take in a home game at Valencia's Mestalla Stadium, the one-time Manchester United defender found himself sitting alongside Sir Alex Ferguson in the stands.

Asking who Ferguson was there to see, McQueen was told: "Mendieta - but at the price he'll be, I've got more chance of signing the man on the moon."

On Saturday, the words of the Manchester United manager proved strangely prophetic. While Middlesbrough's Spanish international lit up the Riverside Stadium, his match-winning display ensured Ferguson's title hopes would be left in the dark.

The season is not yet three months old, but Manchester United have already been eclipsed by Chelsea.

Mendieta, on the other hand, is ensuring the twilight of his career continues to burn brightly. The European Cup winner, who was the most expensive player in the world when he moved from Valencia to Lazio in 2001, has endured a tortuous 12 months since snapping his cruciate knee ligaments last October.

The road to recovery has been both painful and arduous but, by producing a captivating display to humiliate some of the best opponents in the land, the 31-year-old reminded the Riverside faithful why he was once voted the best midfielder in Europe.

His two goals were bettered only by the 40-yard pass that led to Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink's first-half strike, and his all-round performance elevated an already unforgettable evening into the pantheon of legendary Middlesbrough displays.

"It has been very hard for me to come back and it has been a long, long wait," said Mendieta. "So this was very special.

"I was out for an awfully long time, but I never once thought about not coming back. I always knew I would return.

"I took it slowly, day by day, and just thought to myself that I would be back as soon as possible. There were times when it was very difficult, but I knew I would get there in the end.

"I love these kind of games and, if anything, they are even more important to me now after the injury.

"They are important to me and important to the team, but they are also important to the fans. They were disappointed with how we have played in our home games this season - hopefully we repaid them a little with this win."

That they certainly did. Manchester United were utterly wretched, but the paucity of their opponents' performance should not detract from the quality of Middlesbrough's win.

Displaying a vibrancy and intent that has been lacking from much of their football this season, a blistering Boro blew Ferguson's title hopefuls away inside the opening 45 minutes.

Handed the perfect start when Edwin Van Der Sar allowed Mendieta's second-minute drive to slip from his grasp, Steve McClaren's men went on to add two more goals before the interval. Had they taken all of their chances, the tally could well have been four or five.

"It was the manner in which we played that was the most impressive thing," said an understandably jubilant Boro boss. "It wasn't a scrambled 2-1 when we were under severe pressure, it was as controlled a game as I've seen.

"I told the players to enjoy it, because it's very rare that you experience a victory like that against such great opposition.

"I also told them to enjoy it because it was thoroughly deserved. But we've had good performances before and not made the most of them. We've beaten Arsenal and Manchester United now this season - if we can beat them, we should be able to beat anyone."

There are certainly very few sides that could have lived with Middlesbrough before the break. By his own admission, McClaren has been striving for a system that makes the most of the attacking talent at his disposal. After stumbling across a 5-3-2 formation at Everton last week, his search is surely at an end.

With Boro's three-man central defence shackling Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney, their seven other outfield players were free to wreak havoc at the other end.

Stuart Parnaby and Emanuel Pogatetz worked tirelessly up and down the flanks, while Hasselbaink and Yakubu were a constant menace up front.

Always willing to drop deep in search of the ball, Boro's strike duo turned Rio Ferdinand into a quivering wreck. Once England's foremost defender, Ferguson's £18m man is now an accident waiting to happen.

Manchester United might have got away with his ineptitude, though, had it not been for the imperious Mendieta.

Most of his Middlesbrough career has been spent on the right flank but, with a switch in formation enabling him to return to his favoured central role, the Spaniard paraded the full gamut of his passing game.

Belying his age by zipping here, there and everywhere, Mendieta mixed precise first-time balls with searing long-range passes. The result was akin to the leader of an orchestra drawing note-perfect performances from those around him.

"We've been trying to find the right blend and balance, but it's been difficult," admitted McClaren. "With (Stewart) Downing's injury, we've lost a lot of our width.

"We've been searching for a system that gives us balance, and I thought this worked well. We got our wing-backs forwards and our midfield players into the right positions. That then enabled the two up front to see plenty of the ball.

"It obviously also helped that Mendy played so well. He's been threatening a performance like that for a couple of weeks, and no-one deserves a bit of success more than he does."

The pass that led to Middlesbrough's second underlined Mendieta's enduring class. Looping over the head of the hapless Ferdinand, it allowed Hasselbaink to scamper clear before twisting inside the centre-half and driving clinically beneath the advancing Van Der Sar.

Hasselbaink was also involved in Boro's third on the stroke of half-time, slipping the ball inside for the rampaging Parnaby, only for the full-back to be pulled to the floor by susbtitute Kieron Richardson.

While Ferguson watched on aghast, Yakubu converted the spot-kick with the minimum of fuss.

The intensity inevitably dropped slightly after the break, but Mendieta deservedly doubled his tally 13 minutes from the end. Yakubu embarrassed Ferdinand again on the outside, and the midfielder stroked home his pull-back from close to the penalty spot.

Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed a consolation in stoppage time - heading home Paul Scholes' corner - but the goal did nothing to dampen Mendieta's delight.

On a night when the visiting fans had sung of George Best, it was another midfielder playing in red that had summoned up his spirit.

Result: Middlesbrough 4, Manchester 1.

Read more about Middlesbrough here.