Celtic vs. Manchester United

Full credit must go to Celtic who achieved what they had set out to by applying early pressure on United and then packing their goalmouth with defenders. Manchester United, like Chelsea the night before found it difficult to find their rhythm, especially in the first half. The first goal came in the thirteenth minute when Nemanja Vidic headed away Shaun Maloney's free-kick. Scott MacDonald was left on his own 9 metres out as Gary Caldwell nodded the ball back into the United danger zone. Debutant goalkeeper Ben Foster was left in no man's land and McDonald's lob looped over his head and dropped neatly into the visitors' net. It was the first European goal United had conceded since May when they lifted the trophy in Moscow.

The second half was dominated by the visitors but Celtic were able to keep their shape. While Celtic brought on players to shore up their defence, Manchester United brought on Patrice Evra, Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney to bolster their attacking options. The equaliser came five minutes before the end when a fierce shot from Cristiano Ronaldo was not held by goalkeeper Artur Boruc. The rebound was chased down and put into the net by Ryan Giggs. The extent to which Manchester United dominated is indicated by the following statistics: Celtic had six shots on goal of which three were on target whereas United had thirty shots with seven that found the target. In terms of possession it weighted heavily in United’s favour at 74% to 26%.