Today I'm going back 15 years to 2006 and Manchester United's Champions League Group Stage "Battle of Britain" against Celtic at Old Trafford. This was my first ever experience of the Champions League because my only other taste of European Cup football came with the 1992 Final which was in pre-Champions League era (yes, I know, I'm that ancient!). I was lucky enough to get to go to this game thanks to a spot of corporate hospitality so, before you criticise the prawn sandwich brigade too harshly, please bear in mind that at least some of them may be die hard football aficionados. Certainly the hospitality areas in the stadium seemed to be full of Celtic followers that night as their fans did what they are renowned for and turned up wherever their team plays. Sadly, many seemed to be extremely the worse for wear and, worse still, were apparently looking for trouble. I watched one "suited and booted" gentleman fish coins out of his pocket and start throwing them randomly down onto United supporters from the hospitality area! That's my definition of a tosser!
I referred to the game as being a "Battle of Britain" because this is how the domestic media like to portray such events. It's certainly true that in the 1960's and 70's, such games were fairly evenly matched contests. However, with the advent of the English Premier League, money has progressively skewed the degree of competitiveness between English and Scottish club sides to the point that, these days, if a Scottish side were to win such a game, it would be considered to be a giant killing. So you can imagine our surprise when Celtic, in front of 74,031 and resplendent in green and black vertical stripes rather than their traditional green and white hoops, took the lead with a goal scored by the splendidly named Jan Venegoor of Hesselink. Imagine going into the Celtic Megastore and asking to have that particular name printed onto the back of a child's replica shirt! Apparently the name dates back to the 17th century to a time when the names Venegoor and Hesselink carried an equal social status and, rather than choose one upon marriage, it was decided to use both with "of" actually translating to "or" in Dutch! So much better than hyphenation don't you think?
In the 28th minute, Celtic's Polish goalkeeper Artur Boruc charged to the edge of his penalty area and made a rash challenge on Ryan Giggs. Giggs went down rather easily but it probably was just about enough of a foul for a penalty to be awarded and it was swept home by Louis Saha. Saha then made it 2-1 in the 40th minute but, incredibly, before half time Celtic were level again thanks to a stunning free kick from Japanese international Shunsuke Nakamura which was assisted by Saha in the United wall failining to jump as the ball went over his head. 2-2 at half time and we definitely had a battle on our hands.
Early in the second half and United edged their noses in front once again with a predator's goal from today's Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer otherwise known as the "Baby Faced Assassin" (still loving those nicknames!). 3-2 and, given the breathless nature of the first 50 minutes, it was a little surprising that there was to be no further scoring. United triumphed 3-2 and, no doubt, the media was satisfied that the natural order of Premier League superiority had overcome. United went on to win Group F with 12 points but Celtic also qualified for the knockout stage finishing second with 9 points ahead of Benfica and Copenhagen. Celtic were to fall in the Round of 16 but only just, going out 1-0 after extra time to eventual Champions League winners AC Milan. United knocked out Roma 8-3 on aggregate before themselves falling to AC Milan in the Semi-Finals.
CRB Match No. 1518
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