Celtic will gripe that two suspiciously offside goals did for them last night but, as justified as these protests might be, a list of other inadequacies triggered their downfall at Old Trafford. This was as predictably one-sided a match as many of us had feared, with Gordon Strachan’s side being largely outclassed by Manchester United’s infinitely superior talent.

Two goals from Dimitar Berbatov and a further strike from Wayne Rooney only indicates a little of the chasing of shadows that Celtic were subjected to over these 90 minutes. If it was understandable, given the differences in the two clubs’ wealth, it was still a little ignominious for Celtic and Scottish football. The United fans taunted their visitors with chants of “Are you Rangers in disguise?”, thus somehow managing to ridicule both halves of the Old Firm in the same moment.

It seemed pointless and even absurd to query Strachan’s team selection, given how superior United were, but some felt confounded by Shaun Maloney starting on the bench, with Glenn Loovens in defence beside Stephen McManus, and Gary Caldwell shoring up Strachan’s midfield. But Celtic’s weaknesses were vexing in other areas, such as in the meagre play of Shunsuke Nakamura and Aiden McGeady on the night. These two talents — cited as among Celtic’s brightest — signally failed to shine.

The irony was that Celtic, having been stricken by early nerves, recovered some composure to create two decent chances, yet this match still evolved into an effortless procession for United. It must have galled Strachan and the Celtic legions, and it leaves their team floundering in group E.

The reality of it all was unavoidable: no matter how familiar we were with the fact, the difference in the riches of the two teams remained astonishing. United simply could not fit all of their lauded attackers into their starting line-up, so Carlos Tévez was dropped to the bench. It hardly left the home side impoverished, not with their attack being led by the £30 million Berbatov, a player who cost more than three times this entire Celtic team.

Strachan, accursed by no Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink or Georgios Samaras, tried to make up for these losses with tactical imagination. Celtic at least tried to be bold in their game plan, throwing Nakamura forward in support of Scott McDonald, with McGeady also urged to take the game to John O’Shea down the left.

While that particular instruction went cold on the night, and there was an apprehension about Celtic given their injuries, they also succeeded in creating good chances in the first half. Yet too much of Celtic’s play was undone by brittle passing, a natural consequence of fear out on the pitch.

McGeady’s shot after 12 minutes, following a cleverly worked move, forced Edwin van der Sar to plunge to his left to make the save. Then Caldwell, ostensibly playing as a midfield anchor, met Lee Naylor’s outswinging cross and fired in a shot that the Dutch goalkeeper tipped over the bar. Given the disparity between these teams, this wasn’t bad going from Celtic, and their first-half play somehow overcame their early nervousness.

United, frankly, looked erratic in their approach before taking the lead after 29 minutes. Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and Gary Neville had all caused Celtic some early frights with incursions down the left, but it wasn’t until a Ronaldo shot after 28 minutes, blown narrowly wide of Artur Boruc’s left post, that the home side erupted into life.

On the half-hour Nani’s corner from the right was met by paltry defending, and when a thicket of Celtic shirts failed to clear the ball, O’Shea knocked it back for Berbatov to hook past Boruc from seven yards. To add insult to injury, the striker was standing in an offside position before he received the ball.

That goal, however, fired United into life, and Celtic were lucky to survive just a goal adrift as the referee, Frank de Bleeckere, blew for half-time. First, Rooney forced Boruc to clutch a stinging drive, and then Darren Fletcher, with the Celtic goal at his mercy, blazed his effort high over the bar from ten yards. As the game took its incessant course, United, in truth, began to terrorise Celtic around their own penalty area.

The second half could hardly have started in a worse way for Celtic, even though the Scottish champions were again undone by poor officiating from the referee and his linesmen. The danger to Celtic was obvious when Scott Brown felled Anderson 22 yards out and, from the dead ball, Ronaldo duly unleased another rocket that blazed a fiery path straight at Boruc.

The effort swerved, but the Pole still made a poor job of deflecting the ball straight back in front of goal and into the path of Berbatov, who slid the ball home. Once again the Bulgarian had been offside when Ronaldo’s free kick was struck, yet that still couldn’t camouflage the catalogue of errors that a rampant United were forcing Celtic to make.

De Bleeckere and his fellow Belgian officials did not shower themselves in glory. Shortly after that second goal, Rooney, taking Ronaldo’s deceptive pass, was actually onside before scoring a third for United, though the linesman erroneously relieved Celtic by flagging for offside. A rampant United were becoming unstoppable.

Rooney finally got his reward, shooting low past Boruc after 76 minutes. It seemed the least that he and his team deserved.

Manchester United (4-4-2): E van der Sar — G Neville (sub: W Brown, 59min), J Evans, N Vidic, J O’Shea — C Ronaldo (sub: Park Ji Sung, 82), D Fletcher, Anderson, Nani — D Berbatov (sub: C Tévez, 59), W Rooney. Substitutes not used: T Kuszczak, R Giggs, Rafael da Silva, D Gibson.

Celtic (4-1-3-2): A Boruc — M Wilson, G Loovens, S McManus, L Naylor — G Caldwell — A McGeady, S Brown, B Robson (sub: S Maloney, 61) — S McDonald, S Nakamura (sub: P Hartley, 61). Substitutes not used: M Brown, A Hinkel, M Donati, C Sheridan, D O’Dea. Booked: Hartley, Loovens.

Referee: F de Bleeckere (Belgium).