SOCCER/Manchester Utd 3 Celtic 0: THERE COULD be no element of the unknown in this meeting of English and Scottish title-holders at this ground. As expected, Manchester United completed a win that goes far to confirming that their presence, along with Villarreal, in the knockout phase. That was achieved despite the fact that Alex Ferguson's team seldom showed the normal elan.

Indeed, they had to be bolstered by the failings of the referee Frank de Bleeckere and his assistants since the goals from Dimitar Berbatov that opened the decisive 2-0 lead might easily have been disallowed. The visitors will have to take heart that they stood firm for a while even though this fixture should have been a priority for Champions League holders bent on tying up the group stage quickly.

There was not much clemency in Ferguson's team selection. A groin injury kept Rio Ferdinand out of the line-up and although Wes Brown was rested his replacement, Gary Neville, is no rookie.

The impression was that United would deal briskly with the visitors, making sure that they did not drift towards the sort of draw they suffered against Villarreal.

Their schemes, however, were far from being the main theme of the first half. When Celtic did fall behind, in the 30th minute, they even had a grievance. John O'Shea got a foot to Nani's corner, but Dimitar Berbatov then seemed to be in a fractionally offside position as he put the ball into the net. A team with the away record in the Champions League of Celtic is under enough pressure as it is without injustice being perpetrated.

They had drawn one and lost the other 17 fixtures on their travels in this competition. With the two tall forwards, Georgios Samaras and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, ruled out, the manager, Gordon Strachan, had mused about the possibility of Snow White leading out the side. The line-up was not really diminutive, but the manager was wise to look for some relaxing humour wherever he could find it.

Celtic had given a fairly good account of themselves before the interval. At that stage, a flat United had been far from deadly. Only the team selection suggested a possibility of verve, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani flanking the central strikers, Wayne Rooney and Berbatov. Strachan's team did fairly well at containing that attack and, before half-time, carried some menace of their own.

It was Edwin van der Sar who needed to make the saves, putting efforts by Aiden McGeady and Gary Caldwell behind. Celtic's system of containment was functioning, yet United ought to be well accustomed to wrecking plans of that sort. Ferguson's team looked a little slack, as if they could not quite grant this match the status they would automatically accord to a major fixture in the Premier League.

The danger to Celtic was sporadic. Nani set up Rooney for a drive that was blocked by Mark Wilson and, later, Ronaldo would miss the target from a promising position. There was no overwhelming prowess but on the verge of interval Darren Fletcher should have doubled the lead instead of hacking Rooney's chip over the bar. Celtic had performed better than many had imagined, yet still they were losing.

Hardened observers of the Scottish champions in this tournament would almost have been steeling themselves for what happened next. Six minutes into the second half United killed off this match. Though Ronaldo's free-kick moved in the air, goalkeeper Artur Boruc ought to have done better than palm into the middle of the goalmouth, from where Berbatov scored for a second time.

The Bulgarian had again been marginally offside when the set-piece was taken, but the flag was then raised wrongly against Rooney when he had the ball in the net shortly afterwards. It is a moot point whether Celtic's mood will be improved by evidence that poor officiating was at work rather than a conspiracy.

Berbatov is most likely cursing machinations, but there nothing covert about them. The forward was denied the prospect of a hat-trick because Ferguson replaced him with Carlos Tevez. Having made sure of the win here the manager had to get on with some forward planning.

There was little more than professionalism to sustain Celtic and Tevez was soon compelling Boruc to tip an attempt round the post. After 73 minutes Rooney was making the goalkeeper put a shot over the bar. Three minutes later the Englishman did hit the net at last, from a Tevez pass. This had been one more away match in Europe to be met with stoicism by Strachan's team.

MANCHESTER UTD: Van der Sar, Neville (Brown 59), Evans, Vidic, O'Shea, Ronaldo (Park 82), Fletcher, Anderson, Nani, Berbatov (Tevez 60), Rooney. Subs not used: Kuszczak, Giggs, Rafael Da Silva, Gibson.

CELTIC: Boruc, Wilson, Loovens, McManus, Naylor, Nakamura (Hartley 61), Scott Brown, Caldwell, Robson (Maloney 61), McGeady, McDonald (Sheridan 77). Subs not used: Mark Brown, Hinkel, Donati, O'Dea. Booked: Hartley, Loovens.

Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium).