Celtic opened up a ten points advantage over Rangers 15 years ago thanks to a stunning hat-trick from the original King of Japan, Shunsuke Nakamura against Dundee United at Tannadice and of course a rare away win (1-0) for Inverness Caley Thistle at Ibrox. So it was a very good day indeed for Celtic but it didn’t get off the the best of starts after an Artur Boruc error led to the home side taking the lead.
Thta was as good as it got for the Tangerines thankfully with Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink helping out with a couple of assists and a goal of his own but the star of the show and the man making the headlines in the papers was Nakamura.
The Celtic manager Gordon Strachan praised hishat-trick hero Shunsuke Nakamura after the 4-1 win at Tannadice.
“He’s a top, top player,” Strachan told BBC Sport. “And for half and hour out there he was totally untouchable.
“We fell behind but the way the players set about getting back into the game was just fantastic. We gave our midfielders more space by working on our shape and Jiri (Jarosik) and our full-backs were excellent and always a threat.”
Next up For Celtic was a mouth-watering Champions League encounter with Benfica at Celtic Park and another three goal victory for the Hoops. Oh how times have changed. Maybe Gordon Strachan was a much better Celtic manager than he’s given credit for? And what a player Naka was…
The teams at Tannadice 15 years ago today were as follows:
Dundee United: Stillie, Proctor, McCracken, Archibald, Kalvenes, Samuel (Goodwillie 75), Kerr, Cameron, Robson (Easton 85), Duff (Conway 74), Hunt. Subs Not Used:- McLean, Mair, Smith, Wilkie.
Goal:- Hunt 5.Celtic (4-5-1):-
Boruc, Telfer, Caldwell, McManus, Naylor, Nakamura, Lennon (Pearson 75), Sno, Maloney (Riordan 73), Jarosik, Vennegoor of Hesselink (Miller 60). Subs Not Used:- Marshall, Balde, O’Brien, O’Dea.
Goals:- Nakamura 44, 48, Vennegoor of Hesselink 52, Nakamura 58.Att:- 10,504
Ref:- M McCurry
Highlights below…
15 years ago today, Dundee Utd 1:4 Celtic.
Nakamura hattrick and big Jan. @JanVofH pic.twitter.com/xn2i9Ntf3l
— Li’l Ze (@LilZe_7) October 13, 2021
Gordon was a great manager for us and he fought our corner off the park as much as he got the players fighting for us on the park. This was my last full season before i moved to Canada so i remember everything about it and we had a great team and Gordon is due most of the credit for it
I was at that game as a guest in the hospitality area. Sitting in the stand, just before the end of the game, I realised I was beside the match ball sponsor. She was asked to name who it would be, chose Shunsuke Nakamura. Her son told her it had to be a Dundee United player, to which she replied, “But no-one can touch him.” She turned to me and asked who I’d pick in the United team. I replied that I didn’t know, but said that the two guys beside me were Arabs, and asked them. “Naebody,” was their response. Shunsuke Nakamura got official Man of the Match from the Ball Sponsor.