On This Day in 2006, Celtic visited Manchester United int the Champions League. It was seen as a grudge match between Sir Alex Ferguson and Gordon Strachan after a falling out between the pair at the end of Strachan’s time at Old Trafford.
Six thousand Celtic supporters made the journey to Lancashire hoping that Strachan’s side could pull off a shock result against a side littered with talent. On 21 minutes, they were given a major boost as Jan Venegoor of Hesselink turned sweetly taking down a Artur Boruc kick before firing a shot beyond Edwin Van Der Sar.
As Celtic still do to this day, they could not weather the storm and were pegged back through a Louis Saha penalty. Boruc guessed right but wasn’t able to keep the ball out. It was never a penalty in the first place, Ryan Giggs bought it. Saha struck again as Tommy Gravesen’s mistake was capitalised upon but Celtic drew level through a sublime freekick from Shunsuke Nakamura. The Japanese midfielder lifted the ball up and over the wall leaving United’s No.1 with no chance. Sadly, shortly after half-time, Celtic fell behind as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer pounced – again through a Gravesen error. The Danish midfielder almost redeemed himself but he was foiled by United. Artur Boruc was excellent in goals but the score remained 3-2.
13th September 2006, Man Utd 3:2 Celtic.
Excellent goals from Vennegoor of Hesselink and Nakamura. pic.twitter.com/NywAEy9ZDC
— Li'l Ze (@LilZe_7) September 12, 2023
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 (4-1-4-1 formation):-
Boruc, Wilson (Telfer 51), Caldwell, McManus, Naylor, Lennon, Nakamura, Gravesen, Jarosik (Miller 55), McGeady (Maloney 69), Vennegoor of Hesselink.
Subs Not Used:- Marshall, Balde, Zurawski, Sno.
Booked:- Boruc, Miller.
Goals:- Vennegoor of Hesselink 21, Nakamura 43.
I was one of the six thousand. I had been to old Trafford many times but always for testimonials and friendly games but this was so different the atmosphere inside the ground and Celtic fans being attacked outside the ground. We played well and when you look at the man utd line up we were up against some of the best players in Europe and considering we won the home tie 1-0 if it had been a knockout instead of group stage we would have won on away goals. I don’t think Gordon Strachan was given enough credit at the time for his achievements at Celtic