Pre-Season Game: Manchester Utd 3-1 Celtic - Full Time Report
A goal and two assists by Dimitar Berbatov, and another goal from youngster Danny Wellbeck were enough to hand Manchester United a 3-1 victory over the Scottish club, Celtic. After a first half lead of 1-0, the English club added two more goals and conceded once, to set up the final score in a game that was more open during the second half.
It was Celtic who got off to the better start in the second half, putting pressure on the Manchester club. Sir Alex had brought on Brown, O'Shea, Cleverley, and Gibson at the half time break to freshen things up and give these players a chance to impress ahead of the upcoming Charity Shield game against the English Champions, Chelsea.
Celtic made it 1-1 in the 61st minute, when the Greek international, Samaras scored from the penalty spot after Ledley had been fouled in the box by the debutant Smalling. The goal came after earlier in the half when Samaras was denied a goal, despite having put the ball in the back of the net. That time the referee's assistant had his flag up for offside but there was nothing wrong with this goal, as Celtic equalized.
Berbatov faced intense criticism last season for being invisible in games but this time it looks like the Bulgarian forward will have a very good season. His first touch, as always, was amazing along with his vision and it was those two things that helped set up the second goal for Manchester United.
After a spell of pressure by Celtic, the English club scored out of nowhere as Berbatov received the ball in the area and controlled expertly before laying it on a place for the young forward, Wellbeck to finish past a helpless Zaluska. The goal was against the run of play but Manchester United were not complaining as the youngster celebrated his first goal of the season.
In the 86th minute it was 3-1 to Manchester United as another one of the youngsters Cleverley ran in from the left wing, had a neat passing play with Berbatov, and then took a shot. The effort took a big deflection and found it's way in the back of the net to put Manchester United two goals clear of their opponents.
The match ended 3-1 to the Red Devils, a score line that flattered them a little. The second half was much more closely fought than the first and in fact Celtic were unlucky not to take the lead and go on to win the game.
Manchester United coach Sir Alex Ferguson will be happy to see his team functioning as well as it is, especially the youngsters Wellbeck and Cleverley, who played a very important part in the game.
The debut for Chris Smalling was going very well until he conceded the second half penalty but that will not worry the Manchester United boss too much since all players are a little rusty, it's the first game of the season after all.
Next up it is Philadelphia Union and Kansas City Wizards, before the final game of the North America tour against an MLS All-Stars team on 28th July, 2010.
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