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.
The free kick from Celtic Glasgow Shunsuke PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
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.