DO YOUR TALKING ON THE PITCH

“I've gone beyond that burning desire stage. There is a bit of apprehension about it again and I think it's good to have that - knowing you have to do well.

“If you look at our European campaign last year you have to say it was a poor one. We didn't get anywhere near the level of performance that was required. We were disappointing and we hope it won't happen again.

“A lot of that was down to the fact that we didn't score goals. Hopefully that's behind us now. The players are keen not to let the fans down again. They know that they are better than they showed last year.

“Wayne has got so much energy and enthusiasm. I know he's desperate to get back playing again. We've got to get Wayne and Paul back playing, because they haven't played much football this season. And we've also got a big game against Arsenal at the weekend.”


Strachan:

“Our squad isn't as good as theirs. We're 200-1 to win the Champions League and they're 7-1. We're a good team, though, and we're representing Scottish football.

“Our national game has had a wee turn for the better under Walter Smith over the last few months and we're hoping to continue that. We're the champions of Scotland - by 20 points [it was actually 17] may I remind you - so there's a lot of pressure on us. People will be looking at our performance to decide whether the Scottish league is any good.”

Silvestre fills us with confidence:

“It is amazing to see how much more mature the players are. You can see a big difference from the end of last season to the beginning of this one and we are definitely better equipped now.

“What happened last year was a big disappointment for all of us. For a club of Manchester United's size, it was a very early exit and we do not want it to happen again. But, if we start in the Champions League like we have in the Premiership, we should be okay.”

Celtic midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura:

“We need to improve as a team before this game because we're not playing well enough for the Champions League. The manager has brought in two or three new players and unfortunately we still don't know each other well enough.

“So far this season, I don't think we've been playing well as a team. Our last game against Aberdeen brought a win, but we didn't play well.

“For this game, we can't go down to Manchester and attack, attack, attack. It's hard to win there so for us it will be vital to defend in this game. Right now, I think a draw would be an important result for us.”