THE INDIE
Only one old Glaswegian left here last night with a grimace on his face but then Sir Alex Ferguson has far too much at stake to appreciate the astonishing drama of Manchester United's defeat. His team have lost to Copenhagen and even Southend already this season but if you wanted a match that defied the pure logic of football then it was the one in the east end of Ferguson's home town.
Celtic were outplayed by United but it was the Scots who have reached the safety of the next round for the first time in the competition's modern format. Ferguson was left to reflect on how he will beat Benfica, who, with a devastating victory last season, denied his club a place in the second round - and how Louis Saha's nerve failed him when he could have rescued a point from the penalty spot in the dying moments.
United may have passed Gordon Strachan's team to death as the Celtic manager constantly changed his side to contain them, but they never created the chances to bury the Scottish champions once and for all. It would be hard to imagine Ruud van Nistelrooy missing a last-minute penalty however loudly Celtic Park bayed for him to fail and, for the first time since he departed in the summer, United missed their prolific Dutchman. Saha's controversial penalty, struck to the right of Artur Boruc, was arguably not even his worst miss, that had come earlier when he stopped with the goal at his mercy believing he had been flagged offside and then struck a weak shot at the Celtic goalkeeper.
"He thought he heard a whistle," Ferguson, who had flapped his arms in disgust at the time, later said in mitigation. Neil Lennon's suggestion that Gary Neville believed Saha's "head had gone" was more serious.
At the very best it was atrocious luck, at worst perhaps it said something more profound about United's ability to finish off teams, with an even more daunting task - Chelsea - awaiting them on Sunday. Ferguson said it was a good thing that United had so many big games to focus their minds but the significance of Chelsea's visit is rivalled by Benfica coming to Old Trafford on 6 December - and all the doomsday financial implications that accompany failure to make the next round.
Some game, though, especially after a first half in which Strachan admitted "we weren't even a presence". The question he set his players at half-time, was whether they wanted to be remembered for "that 45 minutes or the next 45".
THE TIMES
As a Freeman of the City of Glasgow, Sir Alex Ferguson is entitled to hang his washing on the streets around Celtic Park, but he will be dismayed at seeing Manchester United's dirty linen aired in public after a late penalty miss by Louis Saha left the club's European ambitions on a knife-edge.
Manchester United have long boasted of being big in Japan, but the tumultuous roar that greeted Celtic's progression to the Champions League knockout stages last night carried far beyond the east end of Glasgow, through a small corner of Poland and all the way to the Land of the Rising Sun.
A stunning late free kick from Shunsuke Nakamura, followed by a dramatic penalty save by Artur Boruc, brought bedlam to Celtic Park and left United's hopes hanging on another anxious meeting with Benfica.
To those United supporters who had spent much of the evening asking the home fans "Where's your famous atmosphere?", here it was, with Celtic Park swaying to You'll Never Walk Alone and then rocking to the strains of Turning Japanese as Sir Alex Ferguson turned a dark shade of puce. The United manager expressed disbelief that his team had squandered such a comfortable position in the game and, as he did so, admitted that they were in danger of doing likewise in the group after successive away defeats by FC Copenhagen and now the Scottish champions.
Revenge at last, then, for Gordon Strachan, seven years after he was savaged in Ferguson's autobiography, but the significance of this result far transcends a petty grudge that, in any case, seems to have healed in recent months. For Strachan, there was delight in a remarkable feat — one that was unimaginable after his first game in charge, a humiliating 5-0 defeat by Artmedia Bratislava in a Champions League qualifying match at the start of last season — and for his team a point proven to an English nation that has sneered at the Scottish game once too often.
Ferguson left his native Glasgow wondering how his team had contrived, as in Copenhagen, to lose the game. The first half-hour seemed to go to plan, with his team dominating possession and enjoying a monopoly on the few chances that came along, but a tactical reshuffle from Strachan, with Thomas Gravesen restored to central midfield, changed the game, even if a draw, which would have taken United through, looked inevitable until Nakamura's late intervention.
THE GUARDIAN
Celtic have entered uncharted territory by reaching the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time. In the process, Scotland's champions ensured that Manchester United are heading for a state of perplexity accentuated by Louis Saha's miss from an 88th-minute penalty.
The Premiership side have a very patchy record in this tournament, but the home comforts of Old Trafford should come to their aid. So long as Benfica do not win there next month, United will reach the knockout phase.
Even so, that cannot be sufficient to soothe all of the aches. Sir Alex Ferguson's team fashioned few opportunities last night, despite an overwhelming superiority in technique. Soon after they had fallen behind to an exquisite free-kick by Shunsuke Nakamura in the 81st minute, Saha paused fatally when clear because of a mistaken belief that he was offside.
That was grossly unprofessional conduct and United never attended to the essential business of finishing off opponents who seemed to be at their mercy. The syndrome grew even more severe in the closing seconds, when they could not even thrive on good fortune. The referee Rafael Mejuto González had been cruel indeed when he ruled that Shaun Maloney, half-turning in the defensive wall, was guilty of intent as Cristiano Ronaldo's free-kick rebounded from his arm.
Boruc plunged to his right to parry Saha's effort from the spot. By preserving the lead he guaranteed that Celtic will stand above United even if the clubs finish level on points. The advantage comes from the two away goals in the loss at Old Trafford. Nakamura had scored one of them in a comparable manner to the one he lodged here.
This time Nemanja Vidic fouled Jiri Jarosik and the Japanese midfielder piloted the dead ball high past the left-hand of Edwin van der Sar from 30 yards. Nakamura had perked up after a rejigging of the system at the interval which relocated him to his normal post on the right. If the victors claim that they phased their approach to be more adventurous as the night wore on, it would be uncharitable not to take them at their word.
United, beaten 1-0 in consecutive Champions League away matches, will receive no sympathy. They held all the cards, with Ferguson ensuring that his side would, in theory, be at their most potent despite speculation that certain players would be rested ahead of Sunday's encounter with Chelsea.