Gordon Strachan last night defiantly rounded on critics who had dismissed his side in advance of their Group E clash with Manchester United.

Gordon Strachan last night defiantly rounded on critics who had dismissed his side in advance of their Group E clash with Manchester United.

With Aalborg and Villarreal drawing, Celtic are not yet out of the race for qualification after a thrilling 1-1 draw with the European champions.

"I am glad the night is over," said Strachan. "I am happy at 1-1. I am happy we gave them a good game. I am happy that we are not boys, whatever some people say. We are men. You cannot play like that if you are not men."

Celtic had been dismissed as boys playing against men by Paul Ince, the Blackburn Rovers manager, after the 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford two weeks ago. Strachan, who watched his side take the lead through an excellent Scott McDonald goal before Ryan Giggs equalised with minutes to go, admitted he had entertained hopes of hanging on for all three points.

"With a wee bit of luck, it could have been an incredible upset," he said. "We made them work for it. I thought it was going to be one of those glorious nights. We need to thank the support tonight."

Strachan said the effort had exhausted his players, saying of the substitution of Cillian Sheridan: "I had to look at them and say, who is the most tired. I had to keep Scott on as I needed one experienced striker. That wasn't possible."

He added of putting on Ben Hutchinson and Darren O'Dea: "I put my seventh-choice striker on and played with three centre-backs. We were hanging in there at the end. There was a lot of thinking to be done, a lot of chopping and changing. We had to move people about."

Strachan enthused about the spirit of his team in facing the European champions.

"They are a million miles ahead of us technically," he said. "They have some of the best players in the world. We should never be called boys. Boys don't fight like that."

He said of their players' exhaustion: "In the dressing room they cannot speak. They must be tired. The players should have a pride in what they have done tonight."

He added: "I am happy to get over that game, seeing the lads enjoying themselves, seeing the lads playing physically to a maximum, which they can be proud of."

Strachan reserved praise for McDonald. "It looked a good one. It looked like a real calm finish," he said of the striker's 13th minute goal. "What he has done over the last month is phenomenal; to lose all his striking partners and still keep going. We tried to keep him on as long as possible tonight but he just couldn't raise a gallop. He can be really pleased with himself tonight. He has to look after the kid, too."

The Celtic manager was asked if the siege on his team's goal was like the Alamo?

"Yeah, I have watched that a few times. I am a big John Wayne fan," he said. "But at least we got out of it alive. John was not so lucky. Neither was Richard Widmark. We got out of here with pride, that is for sure."

Strachan was left to rue missing players. Jan Vennegoor of Hessselink, Georgois Samaras and Aiden McGeady all missed the game through injury. The Irish internationalist was a late call-off due to a calf strain.

"If we had a full team it would have been a far better game," said Strachan. "I had a system we used at Feyenoord this year that worked with Sammy, Jan and Aiden but the three of them are sitting in the stand."

He added: "How would they get on with Berbatov, Rooney and Ronaldo? You never know. When we get all our players back, we will be a far better side. One thing we cannot improve on is the spirit."

He would not comment on the incident when Ronaldo appeared to kick out at Scott Brown, saying only: "Most people saw it."