Soccer: Celtic manager Gordon Strachan hailed Manchester United as the Hoops' best-ever opponents after the Scottish champions were brushed aside 3-0 in their Champions League Group E clash at Old Trafford last night.
Dimitar Berbatov scored a goal in each half - both of which appeared to have an element of offside about them - before on-form England star Wayne Rooney grabbed a third.
Strachan refused to place too much emphasis on the first two dubious goals, admitting his side were simply outplayed.
The win leaves United on seven points at the top of the group with Celtic struggling with just one point, a fact which led Strachan to concede that his side are now probably battling with Aalborg for a Uefa Cup place.
"That's the best side we've played," Strachan said. "Physically we couldn't match them and that told the longer the game went on.
"The first two goals were offside but I'm not going to speak about them. I'm a football man and I know when we're well beaten.
"We kept taking punches and two or three of my players must have been pleased, but there were two or three who wouldn't have been.
"It's a wake-up call for all our players: if you want to play at the top level then that's what you're aiming for."
Strachan added: "I said to the players at the end of the game we can't be faulted for guts or determination but we're nowhere near as good as them passing the ball.
"We're still building in terms of the personnel we need to come here.
"I felt we had got over our real problems in the first 15 minutes then they got a goal from a set play.
"We tried to compete but that's one of the best performances I've ever come across."
Strachan found some humour when looking forward to the return game on November 5th at Celtic Park.
He said: "I'm pleased it wasn't a rout. I'm still seeing a red tide coming towards me.
"We'll keep playing away (in two weeks) but it's going to be very hard. We want a good performance. We want to give our fans a good game at home.
"But it will need to be some team to beat them."
