"What can you say about the big fella?" Alex Ferguson wondered last week as he watched Peter Schmeichel cross a room crammed with reporters and television cameras.

They had come from Newcastle and Munich, Rome and Tokyo, from the Sun and perhaps even the moon, descending upon Old Trafford in search of the stories which make Manchester United the still red centre of European football.

As he prepared for his final games in United's goal, only the club's quest for an historic treble could exceed the resonance of Schmeichel's leaving. His imminent departure was a journalistic narrative even more compelling than the exact size of the tattoo spelling out Brooklyn Beckham's name on his father's lower back. Yet hardened hacks parted like the flat Red Sea as Schmeichel swept through them.

Ferguson seemed fleetingly wistful. "Peter Schmeichel has been a colossal figure for Manchester United," he murmured. "It'll be a terrible wrench to see him go." Ferguson paused, as if that dangerous word "irreplaceable" might slip from his pursed lips. "He's going to be missed," the manager finally said.

Schmeichel had reached his appointed slot, slipping behind David Beckham and Ryan Giggs. The two stars, so cautiously coy only a minute before, lifted their heads and suddenly laughed at a Schmeichel crack. They looked like boys in comparison but, as so often before, Schmeichel's presence did the trick for United. In front of him, the younger players began to express themselves.

When Eric Cantona retired there were many who felt that United would not easily absorb the loss of the talisman who seemed to have done most in bringing the championship back to Manchester. Ironically, post-Cantona, United became a better team. Their pre-eminence is now too entrenched for similar doubts to be voiced about a slow collapse in the wake of Schmeichel's exit. But United are even more indebted to their extraordinary keeper than they once were to Cantona.

If there were a few kinks in his assurance earlier this season, just before he made public his decision to move from Old Trafford, Schmeichel has since regained his raging supremacy.

Beyond his saves against Internazionale and Juventus, as well as his last-minute denial of Dennis Bergkamp's penalty in that astonishing FA Cup semi-final replay against Arsenal, his significance may yet intensify in these last hours of his United career.

Today his defence is devoid of Jaap Stam and Denis Irwin; on Wednesday, meanwhile, in the absence of Roy Keane, Schmeichel will lead United into the European Cup final. If Stam is certain to return then, United will still look as much to their goalkeeper to curb a physically imposing Bayern Munich attack.

Yesterday we wanted the great Dane to bark out more than a few gruff platitudes about two such dramatic final encounters in his green United shirt. "There will be a fantastic atmosphere at both matches," he began dutifully enough, "but it's important to prepare as normally as possible." As if bored by the professionalism of his own answer, Schmeichel dropped into an even more deadpan mode. Did he have any regrets about his decision to leave United? "Nope," Schmeichel smiled.

After the FA Cup final, or when leading the team out in Barcelona, would he feel a teary tang at the thought that he would never again play for Manchester United? "Nope," Schmeichel repeated.

Surely there would be a tug of sadness when he was on his own, and he allowed himself some ordinary human reflection. "Nope," Schmeichel echoed, "not at all. This is a very exciting time for the club and I'm just enjoying it. Obviously there are a few practicalities that have to be sorted out. Otherwise, I'm not even thinking about it.

"I don't think this should be made into a personal thing. I've always been a team person. It's been the same throughout my career. I've been blessed with an ability to separate the private from the professional. That's important - especially as a goalkeeper, where the most valued quality is concentration. I think that concentration has been one of my real strengths as a keeper."

For all the concentrated blandness of his answers, it was more instructive to see Schmeichel's bonhomie being hardened by his on-field intensity. While he did the rounds of the tables, each holding a dozen or more reporters, Schmeichel was not slow to express the kind of blunt command he brings to his own area.

"You're not sitting here," he told one. There was no argument from the hack, and he slunk away, as did another who came up with a "Do you believe in fate, Peter?" corker.

"I'm not going to answer that," Schmeichel snorted.

A minute later, as an equally earnest questioner's mobile phone started to beep in the middle of his own query, Schmeichel rocked with delight. "Oh that's terrible," he chortled, "oh that's embarrassing!" Another flustered journalist disappeared with a reddened face. It was one way to thin the crowd around him.

"We have this attitude at United which is similar to my own," he noted later. "Some might call it arrogance but I don't think that's quite the right word. We believe we're as good as anybody in football. A lot of that is down to Alex Ferguson because he has that drive to push you all the time. I don't want to say he can't relax, but he won't let you ease up. He gives you this belief that you'll win every game - and that's a fantastic environment."

For all his smooth protests against "looking back" Schmeichel's enthusiasm for United's voracious appetite had its roots in a softer memory. "The first championship was brilliant," he eventually sighed. "You could feel the relief running through the club. In a way I was lucky enough to be here the year before when we had such disappointment. United led from the beginning and to lose it in the last week was very hard."

They may be the world's most popular club, but this season the success of Manchester United has been even more reviled and damned at grounds across the Premiership. Schmeichel might have been cursed almost as many times. For eight years he has been as steely and as exhilarating as United's own surging treblechaser; but in the resolute manner of his departure from England today, Schmeichel has shown even more clearly his instinctive brilliance. He has chosen the perfect moment to leave his beloved Old Trafford line.

"Yeah," he said at last, "I'm going to miss this place. There's no doubt about it. But I've no regrets. I've got a bit more work to do and then, well, it'll just be time to go."