Louis Saha looked so devastated on his way out of Celtic Park on Tuesday night that one hesitates to wonder how much deeper into a well of self-pity he might have descended had he known that his late penalty miss had been foretold by Gary Neville, the Manchester United captain, or had Ruud van Nistelrooy not failed a similar test of nerve for Real Madrid against Lyons at a similar time.
Saha talked of feeling “terrible”, of apologising profusely to his team-mates and of “living in a nightmare and wanting to wake up”.
Nothing wrong with that, and he would have been vilified had he dared to respond to his miss with a Gallic shrug, but as he lamented that “a thousand sorrys won’t change anything”, it was tempting to remind him that a couple of goals — say against Chelsea on Sunday and Benfica ten days later — may do the trick.
United, as is often their way, have made life difficult for themselves in the Champions League, but even after a 1-0 defeat by Celtic that resulted in the Scottish champions going through to the knockout stages amid euphoric scenes at Celtic Park, United’s fate remains in their own hands.
Anything but defeat by Benfica at Old Trafford on December 6 will result in them joining Celtic in the last 16 and, while there are parallels with their calamitous defeat by the Portuguese team in Lisbon last year, there are also differences in that United’s form is good and that, perhaps critically, they have home advantage this time.
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While it will take more than a couple of slip-ups in Europe to distract from the great strides they have made in the Barclays Premiership this season, though, the result in Glasgow was not the ideal warm-up for Sunday’s eagerly awaited showdown with Chelsea. In particular it was a chastening experience for Saha, who, having filled Van Nistelrooy’s shoes impressively during the opening months of the campaign, was gripped by a loss of confidence in the closing 15 minutes against Celtic.
The missed penalty — superbly saved by Artur Boruc — was the critical moment for Saha, with less than 60 seconds left in normal time, but it was not the only one. In the 78th minute, with the scoresheet blank, he dithered at the far post when he might have been expected to react to Nemanja Vidic’s flick. Six minutes later, with Shunsuke Nakamura having put Celtic ahead, Saha had a chance to level, but, after being put through by Wayne Rooney’s clever chipped pass, he seemed to stop in expectation of an offside flag that did not come. Instead there was a weak shot that drew an apoplectic reaction from Ferguson on the touchline.
In the circumstances, what came in the final minute was no surprise — not even to Neville, according to Neil Lennon, the Celtic captain, who said that his United counterpart had confided in him that Saha would miss because his “head has gone”.
Those potentially hurtful claims met with no denials from Old Trafford yesterday, even though Neville could feel aggrieved that his alleged comments, uttered in the heat of the battle, had been leaked into the public domain.
Ferguson, while angry at the chances missed, dismissed suggestions that Saha might take time to recover from the penalty failure, but the forward, often accused of blowing hot and cold during his Fulham days, seemed to suggest that he faced a test of his character.
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“It was a difficult night for United, but I have to admit I am really sorry for my performance,” Saha said. “I need to survive from that.”
So do United, but the next fortnight brings the perfect opportunity to show that they have the spirit to do more than survive this season. Ryan Giggs, one of the old guard, sounded an optimistic note that they would come through the next tests, but for the newer breed of United players, matches of this importance, against Chelsea and Benfica, could be said to represent new territory.
With that comes new tests of character. Saha failed his in Glasgow, but can he shrug off his malaise in time for Chelsea’s visit on Sunday?
On the slide
1 Away wins in United’s previous 11 matches in the Champions League, since November 2003
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3 Shots on target by Wayne Rooney in five appearances in this season’s competition — on average, one every 147 minutes
7 Defeats suffered in those 11 away matches (against FC Porto, Fenerbache, AC Milan, Lille, Benfica, FC Copenhagen and Celtic)
47 Minutes taken by Celtic to retgister a shot on target against United on Tuesday
51 Goals scored in the Champions League by Ruud van Nistelrooy, four of them since leaving United for Real Madrid in the summer
£10m The sum that United stand to lose if they fail to qualify for the knockout stages.