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This is an archive article published on October 21, 2008

Rooney’s form sounds warning for Celtic

There are scant reasons for Celtic optimism before Tuesday’s Champions League clash against Manchester United at Old Trafford...

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There are scant reasons for Celtic optimism before Tuesday’s Champions League clash against Manchester United at Old Trafford and the form of Wayne Rooney threatens to make it a torrid night for the Scottish champions. Celtic have lost 17 of their 18 away matches in the competition and injuries have decimated their attacking options. England striker Rooney is enjoying the kind of hot streak that makes him almost unplayable and to make matters worse for opposing defences he appears to be striking up a lethal understanding with Dimitar Berbatov.

Unless Celtic manager Gordon Strachan devises a cunning plan to keep him quiet, his team’s hopes of reaching the knockout round could be in tatters by Tuesday. While United can boast an embarrassment of riches in attack, Strachan has limited options after Greek striker Georgios Samaras was ruled out with a knee injury. Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Chris Killen are also injured.

Angry reception

Real Madrid defender Fabio Cannavaro can expect a heated reception when his side visit former club Juventus in Champions League Group H. Cannavaro fled Juve for Real two years ago, shortly after the club were stripped of their 2005 and 2006 Serie A titles and demoted to the second division in a match-fixing scandal. Juve fans have never forgiven Italy’s World Cup-winning captain for jumping ship when other top players such as Alessandro del Piero and Pavel Nedved opted to stay. “I expect to receive the same reception in Turin as any other former player, in other words to get jeered and insulted,” said Cannavaro. “But that will not cancel out the two best years of my career.”

In other matches, Arsenal play Turkish club Fenerbahce while German giants Bayern Munich host Italian club Fiorentina. Romania’s Steaua Bucharest take on French champions Lyon at home, and Portugal’s FC Porto play Dynamo Kiev of Ukraine.

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