With precious points required in the battle to secure a hat-trick of Premier League titles, Ferguson opted to use his two most experienced outfield players at Middlesbrough on Saturday.

The tactic worked a treat, with Giggs among the goalscorers at the Riverside.

Yet Ferguson had nagging doubts over United's ability to come through their Champions League semi-final without the duo.

In the end though, such concerns were dismissed amid a two-goal blitz that ended the tie as a contest after just 11 minutes.

Stellar performances from Anderson, goalscorer Park Ji-Sung, Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher, who must now cope with the personal agony of missing the May 27 encounter with either Chelsea or Barcelona in Rome, ensured Scholes was not required, with Giggs only coming on in the latter stages once victory was assured.

"On Saturday I thought I'd made a big mistake by leaving Giggs and Scholes too long," admitted Ferguson.

"I felt we would miss their experience. But the players who did play were great.

"To leave out Giggs, Scholes, Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez is a measure of what the players achieved."

Such strength in depth has kept United firing on all fronts all season.

Had their youngsters not lost their FA Cup semi-final to Everton in a penalty shoot-out, the Red Devils would have played in every round of every competition they entered, something not even Liverpool managed in their own glory days.

With the Carling Cup and Club World Cup already secure, attention at Old Trafford now switches to Sunday's Manchester derby when Ferguson's team will look to collect the first three of the seven points required to ensure they finish top.

But it is Europe that Ferguson really wants to dominate, especially as another triumph would take United alongside Ajax and Bayern Munich with four victories.

"We should have won this cup more times than we have," he said.

"This is another opportunity for us and hopefully we can do it again. I think we have the quality and the energy and the ambition to do it.

"This is a hungry team. When the chips are down they don't let me down."