SIR Alex Ferguson has told his Manchester United players to make up for being “embarrassed” by Celtic in the Champions League two seasons ago when the sides meet again at Old Trafford on Tuesday night.

Ferguson is still irked by the manner in which his side lost a group encounter at Parkhead in November 2006, when Shunsuke Nakamura’s 81st-minute free-kick settled a match dominated by the visitors in Celtic’s favour.

“At Celtic Park we forgot the essential issue of scoring goals,” recalled Ferguson. “We played brilliant football but forgot the real reason for a game of football is to win it, and we were left embarrassed, losing a goal late in the game to Nakamura in a game we should never have lost.

“Our tactics were right, everything was correct, I think the players enjoyed themselves too much. They got so much possession of the ball they forgot the essential issue of scoring a goal. We had two or three good opportunities in the first half - Cristiano Ronaldo missed one himself when he was through on the goalkeeper. Hopefully we won’t make the same mistake. Hopefully, we get the chances and we take them.”

Nakamura’s goal sent Gordon Strachan’s side into the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time, and United would later head them as group winners. This time, Celtic’s draw with Aalborg and away defeat by Villarreal leaves them third in Group E and Strachan has said his side need to take at least a point from Manchester to have any hope of progressing for the third straight season. They carry with them a sorry away record of only one draw from 16 games in the group stages.

“Celtic fans have an expectation, always will have, about attacking,” said Ferguson. “I don’t think Celtic will come here to attack but they will certainly have a go, given the opportunities, as they did against Villarreal. Their fans will drive them on, particularly coming to England and Manchester United and it could be a really good, open game.”

Ferguson also believes only a job at one of the big English clubs would be enough to tempt Strachan to leave Celtic Park. “It’s difficult to leave Celtic or Rangers, in a way they’re guaranteed success, it’s a two-horse race up in Scotland,” he said. “Unless he [Strachan] was like Graeme Souness, who had the opportunity to go to Liverpool [from Rangers in 1991] and maybe the heartstrings pulled him towards Liverpool because he spent some great years there. Other than that, why would he want to leave Celtic, unless he was going to one of the big clubs in England?”

One of Ferguson’s former players, Peter Schmeichel, believes Celtic will face a United team that has the edge on his treble team of 1999 and that Ferguson’s acquisition of Dimitar Berbatov can take them even further. “There’s one very big difference [between the teams],” said Schmeichel. “After we won the Champions League in 1999 the team started to split up. That was my last game, Jaap Stam left the next year and so did Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke. This team looks like it’s only just beginning. The addition of Berbatov is one of the best he has ever made. He’ll improve the team. And to improve a team which was as good as it was last year - it’s going to be tough to play against.”