A terrific free kick by Shunsuke Nakamura gave Celtic an historic place in the Champions League knock-out stages on Tuesday as they edged English giants Manchester United 1-0.
After what was dubbed as the ”Battle of Britain”, United’s defeat means the two-time European Cup winners need a point in their final match at home to Benfica to avoid exiting the competition for a second successive year at the group stage.
They could and should have probably grabbed a draw as the match wound down but French international striker Louis Saha — who had earlier missed golden scoring opportunity — had a controversial penalty saved by Artur Boruc.
His former strike partner Ruud van Nistelrooy could sympathise as the Dutch striker, having brought Real Madrid level on terms with Lyon after being 2-0 down, missed a penalty as well, Gregory Coupet saving well.
Despite halting Lyon’s 100% record in the group, the result means the French giants will finish top of group E.
Van Nistelrooy’s Dutch international colleague Rafael van der Vaart looked to have inflicted another blow to English footballing prestige — having scored the late equaliser in the 1-1 friendly draw with England last Wednesday — when he gave German strugglers SV Hamburg a fourth-minute lead against Arsenal.
However, last season’s Champions League finalists reacted with three goals of their own, two late goals coming from Côte d’Ivoire international defender Emmanuel Eboue and Julio Baptista, his first for the club, to send them to the top of the table.
A point against Porto in Portugal in a fortnight will see the Gunners through. However, they will have to do without leading striker Thierry Henry as the Frenchman was booked and is suspended for the crucial match.
Porto did themselves a huge favour in also progressing with a 2-0 win in Moscow over CSKA Moscow.
Former champions AC Milan had another bad day at the office as they lost 1-0 away at AEK Athens — Brazilian Julio Cesar scoring — but got out of jail in terms of qualifying because Lille were held 2-2 at home to Anderlecht.
AEK, who had Italian goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino to thank for the win, have a one-point advantage over Lille going into the final match for the runners-up spot.
Celtic manager Gordon Strachan and his Manchester United opposite number Sir Alex Ferguson were in shock for different reasons.
”I can’t believe it, I will have to double check in the morning just to make sure,” said Strachan, who has enjoyed frosty relations with Ferguson since writing a tell-all book about the United chief, having played for him both at Aberdeen and United.
Strachan went on to praise match-winner Nakamura.
”He is as good as anyone in the world right now.”
Ferguson admitted that his side had failed to take advantage of all their dominance.
”To be honest, losing this game is very hard to take,” he said. ”I am in shock.”
Van Nistelrooy, who has been in electric form for Real this season, scoring 14 goals in all competitions including four against Osasuna earlier this month, was apologetic about his penalty miss.
”I am disappointed to have missed it as it was an important moment for the team.
”However, thus far this season for Real I have taken five penalties and missed three. That’s not a terrific record,” he added, laughing.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger dismissed notions that the absence of Henry would be a real drawback for the match with Porto.
”It is a blow because we would like to go there with Thierry, but this team is strong enough to win without him,” admitted the Frenchman.
”Both teams will play the game to win, but if it finishes in a draw no-one will be disappointed.”
Hamburg’s embattled coach Thomas Doll remained upbeat despite the team recording just one win in their last 22 matches.
”We are still fragile and there were some moments when we lost our organisation and composure,” admitted the former German international.
”Our first-half performance can make us happy and it will help us get better.”
Ferguson will be hoping for a good performance in both halves against Benfica, otherwise it will mean another European disappointment for the Red Devils. — Sapa-AFP