Manchester United 3 - 2 Celtic
Wednesday 13th September 2006
Old Trafford, Manchester
It could so easily have all gone wrong, with Celtic probably kicking themselves at the missed opportunity - having gone one ahead you would have thought Celtic could have done a better defensive job than letting three in!
With Gabriel Heinze still injured and Cristiano Ronaldo unavailable because of suspension, it was a weakened Manchester United side that walked out onto the Old Trafford pitch ready to be shocked by the noise.
The partnership of Ferdinand and Brown that had looked so solid on Saturday against Spurs suddenly looked badly wrong, as first Rio then Wes errored for Celtic's goals. Vidic should be licking his lips on the sidelines.
Ferdinand was the man to blame first. With Celtic pressured by Giggs and Fletcher for the first twenty minutes, their goal came against the run of play. A long hoof upfront should have been dealt with comfortably by Rio, but instead he let the ball dribble under his foot, and Venegoor of Hesselink subbed the ball into the back of the net.
The crowd was riled and so were the United players, as they threw themselves prcatically at the Celtic goal.
A good throughball by Carrick was chased by Ryan Giggs, who never quite got there because goalkeeper Boruc pulled him down in the area. Louis Saha tucked away the resulting penalty.
Good work by Rooney and Saha saw United take the lead. Carrick played Scoles in, who fed Rooney, who played the ball into Saha, who was left with the goal gaping infront of him and poked the ball home from 8 yards, with Boruc managing to get up and chase the ball as it dribbled slowly across the line.
All that work was undermined in an instant. Wes Brown nailed a Celtic striker on the edge of the box, leaving the Green and Whites with a free kick in a dangerous area. Its the kind in the danger zone that Italian defences never give free-kicks away in. Nakuma sublimely put it away to take it to 2-2 on half-time.
A minute into the second half and Solskjaer had put United up again, finishing off the rebound from a Saha run and shot.
Celtic tried but failed to get back into the game, and United started the campaign with some good displays from Michael Carrick and Louis Saha, and three points.
Man Utd: Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Brown, Silvestre, Fletcher, Scholes (O'Shea 79), Carrick, Giggs (Solskjaer 32), Rooney (Richardson 86), Saha.
Subs Not Used: Kuszczak, Evra, Smith, Vidic.
Booked: Silvestre.
Goals: Saha 30 pen, 40, Solskjaer 47.
Celtic: Boruc, Wilson (Telfer 51), Caldwell, McManus, Naylor, Lennon, Nakamura, Gravesen, Jarosik (Miller 55), McGeady (Maloney 69), Vennegoor of Hesselink.
