Today I'm going back 13 years to 2008 and Manchester United's Champions League Group Stage match against Celtic at Old Trafford.
You may recall that I went to the same fixture two seasons earlier in what was my first ever Champions League game. You can read about that game if you search on Celtic in my blog or look for the item for 2006/09/13. So here we were for another "Battle of Britain" and, once again, the corporate hospitality did me proud which goes to show that maybe some of the people in the posh seats are actually real football fans!
Unlike the game two years earlier, the result in this one was much more clear cut. Goals from Dmitar Berbatov in the 30th and 51st minutes gave United a commanding lead and Wayne Rooney grabbed a third in the 77th minute to put a gloss on the score for United. Two weeks later in Glasgow, Celtic gave United a bit of a fright before drawing 1-1. Berbatov's first goal on the night was the classic poacher's goal, poked through Celtic keeper Artur Boruc's legs but replays later showed it to have been offside and it should not have stood. Amusingly, on BBC Radio 5 Live Chris Waddle seemed insistent on referring to the Celtic keeper as "Borat" but there was no sign of the mankini on the night! Waddle can't say "penalties" either: he tends to say "pelanties" when he gets excited! United were playing with something of a swagger and yet it was Celtic who had had the better chances in the first half. It was just that Berbatov was having a magnificent game. United's second came from a Ronaldo free kick that was too hot for Boruc to handle and Berbatov was on hand once again to clean up. United's third, scored by Rooney was calmness personified. Rooney passed the ball into the back of the net from the edge of the box to make it seven games in a row in which he had scored for club and country.
I think that this game was the one and only time that I've seen Christiano Ronaldo playing live and, sadly, I won't be at Tottenham's home game against Manchester United at the end of the month to see him again due to my being in Canada. Ah well, at least I've seen him once! In a previous article I waxed lyrical about Lionel Messi and Ronaldo is probably the only player on the planet who could touch Messi in terms of sheer ability. I'd argue that Ronaldo appears to try that little bit harder than Messi who seems effortless in his skills but the officials who determine the destination of each season's Ballon D'Or found it almost impossible to split them with Messi winning it 6 times and Ronaldo winning it 5 times in the 12 years between 2008 and 2019 (Luka Modric won the other one in that period). What's indisputable is that Ronaldo is one of the greatest players ever to have played the game and his statistics speak volumes. Including this season he has played 905 club games scoring 680 goals and internationally, playing for Portugal, he has played 182 games scoring 115 goals (a world record for international goals scored). Ronaldo is also the all time leading scorer in the Champions League (or it's predecessor the European Cup) with 137 goals). When it comes to the big games, Ronaldo is your man!
Manchester United ended up winning their Group in the Group Phase despite winning only two of their six games (including this one). Celtic ended up finishing bottom of the four team Group. 2008/9 was a good European season for United as they reached the Final having eliminated Inter Milan, Porto and Arsenal in the knockout phase along the way. In the Messi-inspired Final they came up against Barcelona in Rome and Messi ended up triumphant in a 2-0 win.
CRB Match No. 1654
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