Article in The Indie:
It was with some strange symmetry that Ruud van Nistelrooy was blundering from the penalty spot for Real Madrid on Tuesday night at almost exactly the same time as Louis Saha was choking in the same circumstances in Glasgow. So the old Dutchman is not infallible after all but as he notched his 51st career Champions' League goal the same night, he will not be dwelling on it too much.
In happier times, Sir Alex Ferguson would always say of Van Nistelrooy that he was impervious to the confidence-sapping effects of missing goalscoring chances - a quality that could not be attributed to Saha this week. If Neil Lennon's report of his conversation with Gary Neville was accurate then it seemed that when it came to the crucial moment, Saha was still replaying the chance he had blown earlier waiting for an offside flag that never came.
Neville has certainly never seemed the kind of player given to unburdening his anxieties to the opposition and seeing as Lennon spent most of the aftermath of the penalty award trying hard - and eventually succeeding - to get himself booked, it is difficult to see when their chat took place. If United's amateur psychologist was correct then it says little for the faith that Saha inspires in his own team-mates.
The man himself was contrite at Parkhead on Tuesday night, he admitted that he felt "terrible". "It's one of those things," Saha said. "I've said sorry to the lads in the dressing room but a thousand sorrys won't change anything. It was a difficult night for Manchester United but I have to admit I am really sorry for my performance. I need to recover from that."
With the hauteur of the natural goalscorer, Van Nistelrooy was never one for apologies - not even when he struck the Arsenal bar with a late penalty that would have won United the game at Old Trafford in September 2003.
So who was really responsible on Tuesday night? A striker who is dealing with the unique pressure of leading the line for United or a manager that insists on playing 4-5-1 even when, in Wayne Rooney, he has a player with three goals in his last two appearances for club and country?
Still, when the day cleared over Parkhead yesterday it was much less of a mystery how United failed to beat Celtic and now face another Champions' League play-off. The 4-5-1 system, after all is designed to stop you losing games, rather than to win them.