In sensational fashion Celtic, at home in Parkhead, held English Premiership Leaders Manchester United scoreless. On 79 minutes, Nakamura curled a free-kick in to the top corner past United keeper Van De Sar to mark the first of a memorable 10 minutes for Celtic.
Manhcester United at full strength failed to break down the Celtic defence - United failed to provide any real threat in the last 1/4 of the field. With seconds remaining however, United were gifted a penalty when Celtic’s Shaun Maloney charged as a free-kick was being taken by Ronaldo. Turing away from the kick, the ball ricocheted from Maloney’s hand while he was still inside the box. A yellow card and a point to the penalty spot. United were once again saved at the bell. A Penalty.
Next came Celtic’s second memorable moment of the last 10, when reliable Saha struck a low hard penalty to Celtic Keeper Borac’s right, he dived the right way, got a full hand to it and parried the ball away, back into play. Save!
Then came the final whistle - Game over - Celtic 1-0 Manchester united. Memorable moment 3.
There is still one more set of fixtures left in the group - at this juncture Manchester United were still left with 9 points, and Celtic on 9 points. Meanwhile in Portugal Benfica were defeating Copenhagen 3-1, bringing the Portuguese side to 7 points with their remaining fixture against Man. United.
The culmination of these facts, meant that Celtic were guaranteed a top 2 finish in the group, and a qualification place inthe last 16 before even playing their final fixture. Stachan, celtic Boss, and Lennon, Celtic Captain, were unaware of this as they were being interviewed after the match. Memorable moments 4 were the surprise, delight (and hope it wasnt a prank) on Strachan and Lennon’s faces when they were being told that they had actually qualified for the last 16. Superb -.
Great night for Celtic Football Club.
