Uefa Champions League: The morning after the night before, and Manchester United were still coming to terms yesterday with an evening when Alex Ferguson was the one Glaswegian at Parkhead whose blood had not been converted to red wine.
Ferguson talked about his players "throwing away" the tie and his face hardened when a radio reporter asked him whether he was angry with his players. "I'm not angry with anyone," he replied with his most withering stare. "Maybe with you for asking such stupid questions."
Ferguson, suffice to say, did not enjoy coming off second-best to Gordon Strachan, particularly when he considered the potential repercussions of losing to Celtic. The visit of Benfica on December 6th should not inspire too much trepidation given that United have not lost a Champions League group game at Old Trafford since October 2001 but, after winning their opening three Group F matches, Ferguson is entitled to be aggrieved that qualification has gone down to the wire.
Part of that anger might be directed towards himself, bearing in mind his mistake in resting half his first-choice team when United played FC Copenhagen earlier this month, another match they lost 1-0. The events in Glasgow might have been largely irrelevant for United had Ferguson fielded a full-strength team in Denmark and they had taken the point that was needed to qualify.
Otherwise his main irritation seemed to derive from his players' inability to be more penetrative in attack. In that respect Louis Saha found himself grazing in the scapegoats' paddock yesterday. The Frenchman was apologetic, but the damage to his confidence will not be repaired by the revelations that Gary Neville had correctly guessed he would fail with his 89th-minute penalty. Neville appeared to question Saha's nerve, telling the Celtic captain, Neil Lennon, "His head has gone," an astonishing remark for a player of his status to make and one that will do little to ease his team-mate's anguish going into Sunday's game with Chelsea.
The striker needed consoling by his team-mates and spoke about "living in a nightmare", describing it as one of the most harrowing experiences of his career.
In mitigation, it was the first occasion this season when Saha has failed to live up to the demands of replacing Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Ferguson has placed a lot of confidence in the France international and will be dismayed by Neville's remarks, which have not been denied.
Saha had failed to score when clean through five minutes earlier, wrongly believing he might have been offside, and Neville seemed to cast doubt on whether the striker had the strength of character to cope.
A throwaway remark it may have been but it carries significance considering the battles ahead, starting this weekend. Saha has had a tremendous season but, rightly or wrongly, the comments attributed to Neville will raise questions about whether he is capable of flourishing when the pressure is at its most extreme. There are similarities to the situation recalled by Roy Keane of a player shaking with nerves as the Champions League music blared out before the second leg of the 2002 semi-final against Bayer Leverkusen.
"We have only ourselves to blame," Ryan Giggs reflected. "Celtic hardly got out of their own half in the first half but when you are on top you have to take your opportunities and we did not do that. Now we have to play Benfica again and it won't be easy."
Celtic's victory over Manchester United could be worth more than £5 million, according to an expert in football finance.
Shunsuke Nakamura's brilliant free-kick took the Glasgow club into the knockout stages of the Champions League for the first time. And David Glen of PricewaterhouseCoopers revealed the Hoops could expect to make an amount similar to the £15.5 million Rangers banked when they reached the last 16.
He said: "We do have a comparator with Rangers last season. They actually published in their accounts last year the impact of reaching the last 16. They grossed about £15.5million and Celtic have now achieved the same feat."
