As a Freeman of the City of Glasgow, Sir Alex Ferguson is entitled to hang his washing on the streets around Celtic Park, but he will be dismayed at seeing Manchester United’s dirty linen aired in public after a late penalty miss by Louis Saha left the club’s European ambitions on a knife-edge.
While Celtic supporters celebrated their team’s first progression to the knockout stages of the Champions League — a feat that went unnoticed by Gordon Strachan and his players until they were back in their dressing-room — United face another anxious showdown with Benfica, their nemesis in last season’s competition, if they are to join Celtic in the last 16.
The Scottish champions’ 1-0 victory, thanks to a spectacular 81st-minute free kick from Shunsuke Nakamura, left United needing a point against Benfica at Old Trafford on December 6 to avoid a second successive elimination at the group stage, but such a scenario would have been avoided had Saha not struck his 89th-minute penalty too close to Artur Boruc after Shaun Maloney was penalised for a handball.
It was later claimed that Gary Neville, the United captain, had confided in Neil Lennon, his Celtic counterpart, that Saha would miss. “I had that same feeling in the pit of my stomach that I’ve felt many times before in Europe,” Lennon said. “But Gary Neville came over and said: ‘I think he [Saha] will miss.’ ”
Ferguson declined to point the finger of blame at Saha in his post-match press conference, at least not directly. “He is disappointed he has missed a penalty kick in an important match, but that’s the nature of football,” the United manager said. “I don’t think there’s any problem for the lad.”
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Failure to score in their past two matches in the Champions League has left United again facing the nightmare scenario of elimination in the group stage and the possibility of missing out on the £20 million windfall that comes with a place in the last 16. Such a scenario seemed implausible after United won their first three games in group A, but successive away defeats by FC Copenhagen and Celtic have changed the picture dramatically.
Arsenal also need a point against Portuguese opposition, away to FC Porto on the same night, if they are to progress, but, while Arsène Wenger was in upbeat mood after a 3-1 home win against SV Hamburg — this despite the fact that Thierry Henry will be missing through suspension after picking up another yellow card last night — there was no happier man in the British Isles than Strachan, the Celtic manager.
For Strachan, it represented belated revenge over Ferguson, who infamously savaged his former Aberdeen and United player in his autobiography, but he had trouble enough coming to terms with Celtic’s achievement, let alone any side issues.
“People tell me that we’ve qualified, but I still can’t believe it,” Strachan said. “There must be a rule somewhere that stops us going through. I will go to sleep and if it’s still on Teletext in the morning [that Celtic have qualified], then I’ll believe it. But right now I’m exhausted. I just want to go home and have a cup of tea.”