MANCHESTER UNITED 3 CELTIC 2
Scorers: Manchester United - Saha (30 pen, 40), Solskjaer (47); Celtic - Vennegoor of Hesselink (21), Nakamura (43)
KUDOS was scant consolation for Celtic after their contribution to a Champions League classic last night. An evening that delivered a liberal dose of entertainment to a spellbound Old Trafford audience ended in sheer relief for an apparently charmed Manchester United.
The Scottish champions, roundly expected to meet a grizzly fate, were unencumbered by any perceived inferiority complex but gruesomely afflicted by a bipolar disorder throughout their Group F opener. Bold and brave for the majority of this feast, their efforts were undermined by a depressing sequence of preventable goals being shipped past Artur Boruc.
Gordon Strachan deserves unstinting praise for his part in an enthralling European night. Measured in his media obligations, and tactically astute when it mattered, the effort expended by his side in suffocating the Premiership leaders was rewarded with profound heartache. For all the Celtic manager's inexperience at the pinnacle of club management, he could have done no more to promote his team's chances.
How he will have cursed the ease with which United's bounty was accrued. Thomas Gravesen punctuated an exhausting shift with two moments of surprising timidity that resulted in goals from Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The Dane almost atoned with what would have been a merited equaliser but, by then, the damage had been done, with United the grateful beneficiaries.
Gravesen's trauma unfolded after a moment of mindlessness by Boruc set the tone for a throbbing night at the Theatre of Dreams. Forget the slightest brush with Ryan Giggs: Lubos Michel's penalty award was predicted five yards into the Polish goalkeeper's reckless dash from his goal-line.
Boruc at least redeemed himself by sparing Celtic from a hammering, preventing three net-bound efforts during a second half bombardment.
Stephen McManus, a towering presence, did not deserve to finish the night with three strikes against his rearguard. Rarely will Sir Alex Ferguson's side secure victory with Wayne Rooney a peripheral figure.
Instead, despite the tigerish attentions of Neil Lennon, Paul Scholes was United's architect, confounding a long-standing eye problem to show he has lost none of his creative vision.
Shunsuke Nakamura offered an enchanting cameo to revive Celtic before the interval, after Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink had paid up the first installment on his GBP3.4m transfer from PSV Eindhoven.
Frankly, it was the Japanese enigma's only meaningful contribution and an inadequate return for a player who habitually underachieves away from Celtic Park. It proved a similarly frustrating evening for Aiden McGeady, the wingerwho occasionally threatened to burst into life but encountered a wily old campaigner in Gary Neville.
Jiri Jarosik was preferred to Kenny Miller and the Czech accentuated the discomfort of Rio Ferdinand and Wes Brown in support of the marvellous Vennegoor of Hesselink.
This was a thrilling spectacle to behold. Seventy-five thousand fans shoe-horned into an awesome arena. Rarely has the stadium staged such sustained pandemonium. United's generally sedate supporters were roused by the rivalry and startled by Celtic's bullish start.
Lennon, in his customary holding role, offered welcome reassurance to those experiencing introductory Champions League jitters, with MarkWilson and McGeady displaying uncharacteristic nervousness.
Far from adopting-a-rope policy, Celtic were not slow in testing United's questionable defence.
Boruc's kick-out caught Ferdinand in an almighty flap. The England defender spilled possession straight to Vennegoor of Hesselink and the Dutchman reinforced his credentials as a penalty box predator with a clinical dispatch past his countryman, Edwin van der Sar.
If only the joy had endured. Instead, Celtic's ascendancy served only to rile the hosts. None the less, parity was largely self-inflicted and irritatingly avoidable. Boruc, having claimed an assist, made a wretched error of judgment. He raced from his line to intercept a delicate pass from Scholes and succeeded only in felling Ryan Giggs inside his area.
The contact was marginal, the decision making lamentable and the resultant award from Lubos Michel inevitable. As Giggs limped off with a hamstring injury, Saha steered his penalty past the Pole and left Celtic in a precarious position. Alas, Saha's second duly arrived and again a result of Celtic's own folly. Gravesen was dispossessed cheaply by Michael Carrick and from Scholes' threaded pass, the Frenchman feasted without breaking stride.
Celtic steadfastly refused to wilt, however. An engrossing half finished in fine fashion. Jarosik was crudely challenged by Brown, enabling Nakamura to deliver a perfect arcing freekick from 20 yards past a helpless van der Sar.
Having toyed with their supporters' emotions throughout the first half, Celtic's masochistic streak was punished within seconds of the restart. Gravesen, again, was caught in possession, with Scholes, once more, embroidering a goalscoring opportunity that Boruc denied hat-trick hungry Saha. He was helpless to thwart Solskjaer from tapping-in the rebound.
It was a blow from which Celtic never fully never recovered but Boruc prevented United from applying ill-deserved sheen.
SUBSTITUTIONS
Manchester United Solskjaer (Giggs 32), O'Shea (Scholes 79), Richardson (Rooney 86) Celtic Telfer (Wilson 51), Miller (Jarosik 55), Maloney (McGeady 69) SUBS NOT USED Manchester United Kuszczak, Evra, Smith, Vidic Celtic Marshall, Balde, Zurawski, Sno
REFEREE L Michel (Slovakia)
BOOKED Manchester United Silvestre Celtic Boruc, Miller
ATTENDANCE 74,031
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