Graphic: Celtic v Manchester United

Sir Alex Ferguson, always respectful of his home city of Glasgow, did his best last night to talk up how tough this evening’s Champions League match against Celtic will be, yet no sooner had the Manchester United manager tried to depict the stern challenge ahead than he was announcing plans to rest players.

United are cruising in group E while Celtic are wilting, which appeared enough to convince Ferguson that even a baying 60,000 sell-out crowd at Celtic Park will not be overly distracting for his players. Edwin van der Sar and Gary Neville will both be rested, with either Ben Foster or Tomasz Kuszczak taking the Dutchman’s place in goal.

Foster appears the more likely of the two United reserve goalkeepers to make what would be only his second competitive appearance for the club, to judge from Ferguson’s eulogy of the 25-year-old at his team’s base in Loch Lomond. “We have two outstanding young goalkeepers and they deserve the opportunity,” Ferguson said. “In the case of Foster, I can only go on what I see. When he played against Derby County for us last year he was absolutely fantastic. From what I’ve seen of him in training, I’d say Foster is England’s No 1.

“The problem he’s got is that, with Edwin van der Sar here, it doesn’t make it easy for him. Van der Sar is a model in terms of his professionalism. He can play for another two years at the top level, I’m convinced of that. But Foster is young, he’s very good, and his time will come. For a young player like that, this game could be an occasion to relish.”

Ferguson suffered his share of disappointments while trying to find a goalkeeper to replace Peter Schmeichel at Old Trafford, which may explain his comments when surveying the crop of pretenders to Van der Sar’s place.

“We are in a very privileged position,” Ferguson said. “For many years, we never brought a young goalkeeper through, but now we’ve got a clutch of them. It’s a great situation.”

There is always intrigue when Ferguson returns to Glasgow, with which he has an ambivalent relationship. As a player in the late 1960s — “I was a grafter,” he says — the United manager had an unhappy spell at Rangers, where he claims there was blatant religious prejudice. He was eventually drummed out, carrying the blame for on-field failings.

The fact remains, though, that Ferguson grew up in and still loves Govan, the inner-city district in the shadow of Ibrox. Yet he first made his name in Scottish football outside of the Old Firm, as a manager with Aberdeen, and the feeling persists that it remains among Ferguson’s proudest achievements.

Ferguson also expresses a persistent admiration and even affection for Celtic, an intriguing theme for a former Rangers player that he gave voice to again last night. In part, this attitude may spring from the influence of Ferguson’s father, who supported Celtic.

“Celtic will be very determined and their crowd will be fantastic, they always are,” he said. “So that is an issue we’ll have to deal with. They will compete very strongly against us and will have their passionate crowd with them. We will have to control the crowd, not just Celtic. We will pick a team to win, because it is important for us to qualify — that part is paramount. The significance of this game is important to us, and we know how competitive Celtic will be.”

There is also the business of atoning for United’s 1-0 loss to Celtic the previous time the club went to Glasgow in the Champions League two years ago. That night a dominant United fell to Shunsuke Nakamura’s stunning free kick. “We lost here two years ago to a fantastic goal,” he said. “Nakamura’s free kick was fantastic. Van der Sar is 6ft 5in but he couldn’t get anywhere near it. The ball couldn’t have been nearer the post or the bar than it was when it went in.”