Defeat against Celtic left Ferguson 'embarrassed'

So it was on Friday. The United manager found time for fun, relishing spitting out "no chance" when questioned over whether he had ever considered managing England, the enquiry following a morning report in which David Davies admitted he had approached him three times about the post while at the English FA. Heck, he even went so far as to indulge us with an "it's disappointing but I don't know the ins and outs of it" when one among our group sought his thoughts on Kris Boyd's refusal to play for Scotland under George Burley.

We should not kid ourselves that Ferguson's tendency to be tame on such occasions is a product of Scottish faces soothing him. It might be more down to the fact that, when journalists from the old country are in town, a forthcoming game is to be previewed that is not so exacting as to put him on edge.

Of course, Celtic's Champions League home comforts were sufficient for the teams' last meeting in December 2006 to end in a 1-0 win for the Scottish champions, whom United will welcome to Old Trafford on Tuesday – a result Ferguson declared left him and his men "embarrassed".

There is a temptation to read that assessment as condescending. But Ferguson employs the term because, as many Celtic supporters seem to have forgotten, the home team far from excelled and were dominated in terms of possession before Shunsuke Nakamura's glorious 35-yard free kick, and Artur Boruc's penalty save from Luis Saha, earned the victory that propelled Celtic into the competition's knock-out stages for the first time.

In the opening game of that same group campaign, United recorded a 3-2 victory and Ferguson sees no reason why the encounters this time around should follow a different pattern, save for any freakish results.

"I don't think they (Celtic] have changed that much," he said. "Statistically at home they've got one of the best records in Europe and their away record's one of the worst. So that's not changed. Where we've changed is with a few additions to the squad since then. And the last time we could've scored more goals in the home game but in the game at Celtic Park, we forgot the essential issue of scoring goals. We played brilliant football but we forgot the real reason for going to a game of football is to win it. And we left embarrassed because we lost to the (late goal by] Nakamura. It was a game we should never have lost. We did all the right things, our tactics were right, everything was correct, but I think the players enjoyed themselves too much."

Ferguson is sure to irk Celtic's followers by claiming Nakamura's moment of set-piece brilliance that carried the day in the east end of Glasgow little under two years ago – and replicated his strike at Old Trafford – should not have found the net. "He has good technique for taking free-kicks," he said. "But even I knew exactly where he was going to place it because I'd seen him do it so many times and he'd done it in the first game. And I think Edwin (van der Saar, the United goalkeeper] himself said he should've been a step more across to that side. That did embarrass you, though."

Back to that embarrassment factor. Yet, it is surely not unreasonable for the manager of the Champions League holders and club who have reasserted their status as the game's world leaders with back-to-back title wins in football's most monied and prestigious league, to look upon opponents from a footballing backwater, even if they are mighty big fish from that tiny pond, as inviting fare. Especially when Ferguson admits to "surprise" over Celtic's failure to beat an Aalborg side his team thumped 3-0 a matter of weeks ago.

Yet, Ferguson does acknowledge that supporters' passion for their club, even if this is diluted by the fact "they won't have the hordes" with only a 3,700 allocation for Tuesday, does provide Celtic with an intangible strength his side must guard against.

"Celtic will always be fired up because their fans demand that," he said. "Their fans have an expectation of their team about them attacking and they always will have that. I don't think Celtic will come here to attack but they certainly will have a go given the opportunity. As they did against Villarreal, when they'd a couple of good chances in the first half. (Georgios] Samaras could've put them in front. So I think they'll play exactly the same, have the same principles. It could be a really good open game."

The clamour from distant acquaintances to watch the game makes the occasion one he reveals he'll "be glad when it's out the road, to be honest." "I get fed up with the requests for tickets. It's bloody agony," he said. "People you've never heard from for years, phoning up from Australia and everywhere, 'I'm coming across for the game'. 'Oh, very nice'. 'Have you got a ticket for me?' It's unbelievable. I had some this morning."

A measure of Celtic's appeal, the global nature of which he considers must be intoxicating for Gordon Strachan. The previously strained relations between the pair dominated the build-up to the jousting in 2006. This time around the only question Ferguson was required to answer on Strachan was whether he should be seeking a return to the Premiership. His answer could be construed both as respectful, and patronising, depending on your interpretation.

"It's difficult to leave Celtic or Rangers because in a way they're guaranteed success," Ferguson said. "It's a two-horse race in Scotland and either one of them's going to win something every year, so it's difficult to leave. They're big clubs, they've got great supports so it's very difficult, I think. In terms of overall worldwide support, very few clubs in England can reach that. In terms of ability and quality obviously the top teams in England are ahead of Celtic and Rangers that way. When Graeme Souness had the opportunity to go to Liverpool, his heartstrings pulled him towards Liverpool because he'd spent some great years there. Other than that, why would you want to leave Celtic or Rangers, unless you were going to one of the top clubs in England?"

Celtic will be exposed to the widening, Grand Canyon-sized chasm that exists between England's best and their Scottish counterparts when their 1.1m-costing defence is required to face down an attacking trident of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov. Chillingly for Celtic, having only recently returned from a two-month lay-off, Ferguson is sure it is going to start "happening" for Ronaldo who bagged 42-goals last season.

The United manager is in no doubt his current squad is the best he has assembled since the 1999 treble-winning pool. And the best player Ferguson believes he may have at his disposal, and who he is ready to unleash, is an as yet largely unknown. Rafael da Silva is an 18-year-old Brazilian full-back already drawing comparisons with Cafu. Debuting in the Aalborg win, the United manager believes he can no longer "deny the boy his opportunity".

"He is a natural, great enthusiasm and stamina and has that thing that big games don't worry him; he's got that aggression about him," he said. "So he's given me a problem. Sometimes they go in and you take them out for a while, but it won't be weeks or months, I can assure you of that."

Expect Da Silva to be one more problem for Celtic on Tuesday. And one more reason why Ferguson doesn't expect embarrassment again.