BY OLIVER HOLT ( The Times )

THEIR performance in the Nou Camp was always going to be a hard act to follow, but Manchester United just about managed it at Old Trafford yesterday. Against a Leeds United team that played some fine football of their own, Alex Ferguson's side turned what could easily have been a nasty case of "after the Lord Mayor's Show" into another parade of pomp and pageantry.

Instead of those wonderful goals from Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole that so nearly vanquished Barcelona, there were fine strikes from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Roy Keane and, best of all, Nicky Butt to admire. And even if there was no one in the class of Rivaldo to inspire their opposition, Harry Kewell tortured them with his grace and incision.

Most of all, the games were linked by the glorious spontaneity and unpredictabilty that United seem suddenly to have embraced. If no match appears beyond them at the moment, then no game seems safe, either. They are riding their luck and trusting to all the attacking extravagance that is at their disposal, even if David Beckham was rested on this occasion.

The result was in doubt until the final whistle as Leeds, brimming with confidence and élan, pressed for an equaliser, but United's victory moved them into second place in the FA Carling Premiership, right on the heels of Aston Villa, who they meet at Villa Park on Saturday.

"That was a major result for us," Ferguson said. "Leeds have been in sparkling form and no matter how much I tried to freshen the team up after the Barcelona game, there is always going to be a bit of a draining effect from that. In the past, Leeds would have come here and defended like hell, but all the young players they have got have had a positive effect. They made it the most entertaining game I have seen against Leeds in my time at Old Trafford. It was nerve-tingling."

Leeds do, indeed, appear a new team under David O'Leary. For all the vigour and discipline instilled by George Graham, they are playing like liberated men. They, too, are more unpredictable, more vulnerable, more potent. The imminent purchase of David Batty from Newcastle United will strengthen them even more.

"He should never have been allowed to leave in the first place," O'Leary said. "He can help to put Leeds back on the map. But I can also guarantee that players like Nigel Martyn and Lucas Radebe will not be leaving [in exchange]."

United started the stronger side. Cole brought the first significant save from Martyn in the seventeenth minute and the Leeds goalkeeper frustrated United again soon after, tipping Butt's header on to the crossbar and injuring his back in the process.

After half an hour, Leeds went ahead. Kewell played a short ball in to Hasselbaink, who was allowed to turn and run at Phil Neville. Hasselbaink's shot flew past Schmeichel's right hand and in off the near post.

Martyn, his back so sore that he could hardly kick the ball, somehow managed to deflect a shot from Butt away with his right foot and Kewell should have increased Leeds's advantage when he lobbed Schmeichel but put the ball wide of an empty net.

Leeds rued that profligacy on the stroke of half-time, when Solskjaer drove his angled drive past the stricken Martyn after a neat pass from Yorke, and 20 seconds into the second half United took the lead, Keane sidefooting Scholes's cross into the roof of the net past Robinson, Martyn's replacement.

Now the match was in full flow. Kewell equalised in the 52nd minute, capitalising on a mistake by Brown and chipping the ball calmly over Schmeichel. Three minutes after that, Keane appeared to have been brought down by Wetherall and, in the rumpus that followed the turning-down of the appeals, Keane renewed hostilities with Haaland, the player he was trying to foul when he sustained his knee injury last season.

Kewell could have put Leeds back in front after Hasselbaink's superb turn and pass, but shot into the side netting. The stage was left clear for Butt, who turned smartly on Phil Neville's pass in the 78th minute and rifled his shot high into the net from 12 yards. Another response from Leeds was awaited, but it never came. This was not Barcelona, after all. Not quite.

Manchester United (4-3-3): P Schmeichel - W Brown, J Stam (sub: H Berg, 76min), G Neville, P Neville - P Scholes (sub: E Sheringham, 72), R Keane, N Butt - A Cole (sub: R Giggs, 65), D Yorke, O G Solskjaer.

Leeds United (4-4-2): N Martyn (sub: P Robinson, 46) - G Halle, M Hiden (sub: D Wetherall, 26), J Woodgate, I Harte - A I Haaland, D Hopkin, S McPhail, B Ribeiro (sub: A Smith, 85) - H Kewell, J F Hasselbaink.

Referee: G Poll.