Fergie hails his world beaters
The youngsters have been major influences on United's current Premiership charge that has seen them record 14 wins in 16 games. A victory at Crystal Palace today will close the gap on leaders Chelsea to just three points for a few hours at least.
Such has been the pair's improvement over the past three months, Ferguson is convinced they will eventually go on to rival Ronaldinho, the man he famously missed out on, as the finest player on the planet.
"We are very fortunate to have these two young players," he said.
"They are both in fantastic form at the moment and along with Ronaldinho, I think they will become the best players in the world in a couple of years' time."
United supporters are set to pay homage to Eric Cantona who 10 years' ago infamously leapt into the Selhurst Park crowd to attack Palace fan Matthew Simmons and Ferguson believes his impressive duo can match the Frenchman's achievements.
Rooney's 15-goal tally, including the brace against Portsmouth last weekend that kept United in the title hunt, has allowed the England striker to grab the headlines but Ronaldo's form has been equally as good.
The Portugal winger may lack Rooney's finesse in front of goal but, as the most fouled player in the Premiership, Ronaldo is clearly a difficult man to stop and Ferguson wishes sometimes he was afforded a bit more protection.
Ronaldo seems certain to start at Palace but, with Ruud van Nistelrooy also due to play, Ferguson might finally be tempted to rest Rooney ahead of the Milan trip, even though the 19-year-old shows no sign of needing a break.
"He has not shown any sign of needing a rest with the form he is in at the moment," said Ferguson
"He is looking so strong at the moment and his performance against Portsmouth last week just emphasised the improvement he has made. When you consider he missed almost five months with the injury he picked up in the European Championships, it took us a long time to get him to the sharpness and fitness he has now reached."
One man definitely missing tomorrow's capital trip is Gary Neville, who is battling to overcome the ankle injury he sustained against Pompey. Ferguson admitted they were 'pushing' Neville to get him fit for Milan, so either brother Phil or Wes Brown will fill the hole at right-back.
The United boss knows victory is essential to his side's hopes of overhauling Chelsea.
Meanwhile, Iain Dowie vowed to fight fire with fire in a bid to combat Manchester United's potent strikeforce. Dowie harbours grave fears about the damage Ruud van Nistelrooy, Wayne Rooney, Louis Saha and Alan Smith could do to his Palace defence if they sit back and try to contain United.
So the plan is to be bold, to take the game to United and aim to derail their title aspirations with a shock win at Selhurst Park.
"The key to them is they try to disturb your pattern of play or your defensive set-up by their rotation up front," said Dowie.
"If you look at the four forwards Alan Smith, Louis Saha, Wayne Rooney and Ruud van Nistelrooy I don't think too many sides in the division have better forwards than that. We are well aware of that," said Dowie.
Palace sit four points off the relegation zone and face a daunting month which promises to have major repercussions at both ends of the table, with Chelsea, Middlesbrough and Everton all following today's clash with United.
So points for Palace are crucial and how they would love to match the 1-1 draw they achieved in this fixture 10 years ago a result which was overshadowed by the Eric Cantona affair.
Palace will be without Danny Butterfield after the right-back underwent a hernia operation earlier in the week, while all eyes will be on Andrew Johnson after this week admitting his England aspirations are dependant on Premiership football.
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