This was another ‘boss v former player’ meeting as Alex Ferguson faced one of his former Aberdeen players Gordon Strachan, now the coach of the Scottish Champions.

The quality of the football was undoubtedly one of the best performances of the night in which 14 other clubs were in action around Europe. Manchester United was ‘unplayable’, as stated by Celtic’s manager after the game. The Reds featured a very attacking side with Ronaldo, Rooney, and Berbatov all upfront while Nani came into the midfield. This line up gave the Scottish few options and they had to set their hopes on a reliable defence.

However, the referee’s officiating was not as genuine as everyone would have loved to see: Berbatov put Manchester United ahead in a controversial manner when he diverted in John O’Shea’s shot into the net from an offside position.

Celtic unfairly had their appeal turned down by the referee but at half time, Man United’s 1 – 0 lead was not as undeserved – in terms of justice – as one might say..

The Reds had a clear shout for a penalty denied when Rooney’s ball in the box hit the arm of the Celtic skipper.

Manchester United dominated the game by playing sweet football and their dominance was soon rewarded by a second goal. Berbatov reacted the quickest to strike the ball in the net after Ronaldo’s powerful free kick was punched away by goalkeeper Boruc. But once again, the goal should not have counted as the replay clearly showed the number 9 in an offside position during Ronaldo’s kick.

Ironically, Rooney had a clean goal disallowed for offside later on. Whichever, the man of the moment still managed to get on the scoring sheet when he fired the ball home to seal his side’s 3 – 0 win over the Scottish champions.

Supporters of Manchester United will certainly love to see their club repeat this sweet performance when the Reds travel to Glasgow next time, but one thing that we will all hate to see as football lovers is the controversy in the referee’s judgement.

Written by: Angela Asante