Manchester United FC - Celtic FC MATCH PRESS KIT Old Trafford, Manchester Tuesday 21 October 2008 - 20.45CET Group E - Matchday 3
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Manchester United FC - Celtic FC MATCH PRESS KIT Old Trafford, Manchester Tuesday 21 October 2008 - 20.45CET Group E - Matchday 3 Contents 1 - Match background 7 - UEFA information 2 - Match facts 8 - Match-by-match lineups 3 - Squad list 9 - Competition facts 4 - Head coach 10 - Team facts 5 - Match officials 11 - Legend 6 - Domestic information This press kit includes information relating to this UEFA Champions League match. For more detailed factual information, and in-depth competition statistics, please refer to the matchweek press kit, which can be downloaded at: http://www.uefa.com/uefa/mediaservices/presskits/index.html Match background The champions of England and Scotland meet on Matchday 3 in a cross-border contest that neutrals will hope provides as much drama as their last UEFA Champions League encounters. • When Manchester United FC and Celtic FC faced off in the 2006/07 group stage, each side recorded a victory – United winning 3-2 at Old Trafford, Celtic 1-0 in Glasgow – and recent history makes Sir Alex Ferguson's men the favourites to prevail once again on home turf. • Although United were held 0-0 by Villarreal CF in their opening Group E fixture, they have gone 16 matches undefeated at home in the competition, while Celtic have not won a single one of their 18 away games in the UEFA Champions League in its modern guise. • Celtic maintained their unhappy sequence of results on the road in suffering their ninth successive away defeat in the competition when going down 1-0 at Villarreal on Matchday 2 thanks to Marcos Senna's 67th-minute free-kick. • Add the points dropped in their earlier home stalemate with Aalborg BK and Gordon Strachan's side arrive in Manchester knowing another loss would leave them with a small mountain to climb to qualify from the section. • United, by contrast, sit top of the group with four points after winning 3-0 at AaB last time out, Wayne Rooney (22) and Dimitar Berbatov (55, 79) the scorers. Should they defeat Celtic, they would be strongly placed to progress. • It was Matchday 1 of the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League when the clubs met for the first time in European competition – and conspired to produce a five-goal thriller. Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (21) opened the scoring at Old Trafford for Celtic, United responded with two goals from Louis Saha (30, 40), the first from the penalty spot, and then Shunsuke Nakamura (43) made it 2-2 with a fine free-kick. The scoring ended two minutes into the second period when Ole Gunnar Solskjær found the net to secure all three points for the home side. • The lineups for that match on 13 September 2006 were: Man United: Edwin van der Sar, Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown, Mikaël Silvestre, Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick, Paul Scholes (John O'Shea), Ryan Giggs (Ole Gunnar Solskjær), Wayne Rooney (Kieran Richardson), Louis Saha. Celtic: Artur Boruc, Mark Wilson (Paul Telfer), Gary Caldwell, Stephen McManus, Lee Naylor, Neil Lennon, Shunsuke Nakamura, Thomas Gravesen, Aiden McGeady (Shaun Maloney), Jiří Jarošík (Kenny Miller), Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink. Last updated 20.10.2008 23:05:01CET www.uefa.com Match background 1 Manchester United FC - Celtic FC Tuesday 21 October 2008 - 20.45 CET MATCH PRESS KIT Old Trafford, Manchester • Celtic avenged that defeat, and secured their progress from the group stage for the first time, by beating United in Glasgow on 21 November that year. The heroes were Nakamura, scorer of the only goal with an 81st-minute free-kick, and Artur Boruc, who saved a late Saha spot-kick. • The lineups that evening were: Celtic: Artur Boruc, Paul Telfer, Dianbobo Balde, Stephen McManus, Lee Naylor, Thomas Gravesen, Neil Lennon, Evander Sno (Jiří Jarošík), Shunsuke Nakamura (Kenny Miller), Maciej Żurawski (Shaun Maloney), Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink. Man United: Edwin van der Sar, Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidić, Gabriel Heinze (Patrice Evra), Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Carrick (John O'Shea), Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, Louis Saha. • United have met Scottish opposition only three times before at Old Trafford. Besides their aforementioned 2006 victory against Celtic, they beat Rangers FC 3-0 in the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League group stage and drew 2-2 with Dundee United FC in the 1984/85 UEFA Cup third round. • Celtic's record from previous visits south of the border is W3 D2 L2 – with their most recent successes coming at Blackburn Rovers FC and Liverpool FC, both 2-0 wins on their run to the 2002/03 UEFA Cup final. • Sir Alex had mixed fortunes in Anglo-Scottish contests when managing in Scotland with Aberdeen FC. His Aberdeen side lost 5-0 on aggregate to Liverpool in the 1980/81 European Champion Clubs' Cup second round. However, the next season they eliminated holders Ipswich Town FC in the UEFA Cup first round with a 4-2 aggregate win. • Celtic manager Strachan, who was a scorer in that UEFA Cup win against Ipswich, played under Sir Alex at Aberdeen and Manchester United and also with Scotland's 1986 FIFA World Cup team. • Strachan has enjoyed no previous success when returning to Old Trafford as a manager. During spells in charge of Coventry City FC and Southampton FC he made eight visits for Premier League matches – and suffered eight defeats at a cost of 26 goals conceded. • Celtic's Greek forward Georgios Samaras appeared in one Manchester derby during his two-year stay with United's neighbours Manchester City FC, a 3-1 defeat at Old Trafford in December 2006. • The most recent Scottish visitors to Manchester were Celtic's great rivals Rangers, who contested last May's UEFA Cup final at the City of Manchester stadium, going down 2-0 against FC Zenit St. Petersburg. • Villarreal will play host to AaB in the other Group E fixture on Matchday 3. Match facts Manchester United UEFA milestones • Edwin van der Sar's next UEFA Champions League game will be his 75th. • Patrice Evra's next match in UEFA club competition will mark his 50th appearance. UEFA Champions League statistics • United are one of three clubs yet to concede a goal after two games; Villarreal CF and Chelsea FC are the others. • The holders have managed 15 shots on goal so far, the joint highest total along with Real Madrid CF, Chelsea FC, FC Bayern München and Arsenal FC. United have also had 21 shots wide, again the joint highest total along with Madrid and Werder Bremen. Disciplinary information • United have no players suspended or within a booking of a ban. Latest domestic information • Saturday 18 October: Manchester United FC 4-0 West Bromwich Albion FC (Rooney 56, Ronaldo 69, Berbatov 71, Nani 90) United recorded a third successive Premier League win – and fifth in all competitions – at Old Trafford, Wayne Rooney continuing his fine recent form in front of goal by breaking the deadlock. Cristiano Ronaldo added his third goal of the season in all competitions and Dimitar Berbatov made it three goals in two games for United to make the points safe, substitute Nani rounding off a clinical counterattack involving Berbatov and Rooney to add a fourth. Last updated 20.10.2008 23:05:01CET www.uefa.com Match facts 2 Manchester United FC - Celtic FC Tuesday 21 October 2008 - 20.45 CET MATCH PRESS KIT Old Trafford, Manchester • "The players kept fantastic rhythm and tempo – it's the best we've played this season," said Sir Alex Ferguson. "Today there was great spirit in the team, they all worked hard for each other and defended very well. Patience is vital; the important thing was to keep the rhythm and tempo to our play and they did that. We did very well today. Rooney is 22 and you expect players to improve as they get the experience. Players like that will improve this club all the time." • Rafael made his first league start for United at right-back against West Brom, while Carlos Tévez and Anderson were both left out altogether after international duty. • Nani's goal was his first in the Premier League since 23 March. • United had taken their winning run to four games with a 2-0 league victory at Blackburn Rovers FC on 4 October. Wes Brown headed the first goal just after the half-hour and Rooney found the net for the third match in a row after a fine burst from Ronaldo on 64 minutes. • United are now unbeaten in seven matches in all competitions since a 2-1 league loss at Liverpool FC on 13 September. • Rooney has scored on each of his last four United appearances and has managed eight goals in his last six games for club and country. He has scored in his last six appearances for United and England. • The English champions have conceded just four times in the Premier League; twice between the 16th and 30th minutes and the other two in the final 15 minutes. • Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Rooney and Van der Sar have played in all seven of United's league games with Ferdinand playing every minute. • Sir Alex's side have scored at least once in each of their last 31 league matches. • United have gone 44 Premier League games without a goalless draw, a run stretching back to the stalemate at home to Reading FC on the opening day of last season. • United will play Queens Park Rangers FC at Old Trafford in the English League Cup fourth round on 11 November. Injury news • Michael Carrick – out since 13 September (ankle) • Paul Scholes – out since 30 September (knee) • Owen Hargreaves – out since 21 September (knee) • Tomasz Kuszczak – out 21 September to 18 October (groin) • Rodrigo Possebon – out 23 September to 18 October (knee) • Ben Foster – out 18 September to 14 October (ankle) • Evra limped off after 36 minutes against West Brom to be replaced by John O'Shea.