United’s home games with Scottish clubs

Rangers’ visit on Thursday will be the sixth time Manchester United have faced a Scottish club in a competitive fixture at Old Trafford.

The Reds are unbeaten in these games, and this is the third occasion when the Gers have provided the opposition.

The other sides we have faced from north of the border are Dundee United and Celtic.

Check out how we fared in these fixtures as we take a trip down memory lane…

12/12/1984: Dundee United (H) 2-2 

Ron Atkinson’s men took on the tough side from Tannadice Park in the first leg of the UEFA Cup third round. The visitors had reached the quarter-finals in 1983 and the European Cup last-four a year later, surrendering a 2-0 first-leg advantage to Roma to miss out on an incredible feat of playing Liverpool in the final.

Gordon Strachan’s early penalty gave the Reds the perfect start when Maurice Malpas handled a Gordon McQueen effort on the line.

Jim McLean’s team replied, through Paul Hegarty but Bryan Robson restored our lead, from a Jesper Olsen free-kick. However, Strachan missed his second penalty, with Hamish McAlpine clawing it to safety, and we were again pegged back when Paul Sturrock equalised.

It stayed 2-2 but we managed to get through with a 3-2 away win in the second leg.

4/11/2003: Rangers (H) 3-0

There was a 19-year wait before the next Scottish team came to the Theatre of Dreams for a European clash. The Champions League group-stage encounter with Thursday’s opponents was a relatively comfortably victory, with Diego Forlan making a breakthrough within six minutes, thanks to a stunning volley.

Ruud van Nistelrooy doubled the lead before the interval and the deadly Dutchman struck again on the hour mark, following a Ryan Giggs free-kick, to end the game as a contest.

Alex McLeish, who played for Sir Alex Ferguson at Aberdeen, was manager of the Gers.

Diego Forlan blasts a volley past Rangers keeper Stefan Klos.

13/9/2006: Celtic (H) 3-2

The Bhoys stunned Old Trafford with Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink’s opener in an entertaining Champions League affair. Artur Boruc’s foul on Giggs allowed Louis Saha to level matters from the penalty spot and the Frenchman converted a Paul Scholes pass to hand United the advantage.

Strachan’s men refused to buckle and swiftly equalised before the interval, courtesy of Shunsuke Nakamura’s fine free-kick. United roared out of the blocks in the second half and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer lashed home what proved to be the winner, after Boruc denied Saha his hat-trick.

21/10/2008: Celtic (H) 3-0

A couple of years later, Ferguson’s side registered a more convincing win against the Parkhead outfit. Dimitar Berbatov got the ball rolling after half an hour, notching after John O’Shea was first to a Nani corner, with the visitors’ appeals for offside ignored.

When Boruc could only parry a Cristiano Ronaldo free-kick, Berbatov was on hand the score again, and a Wayne Rooney effort soon afterwards was disallowed.

Rooney was determined to get on the scoresheet, though, and grabbed the goal his performance merited by finishing off a lovely move.

14/9/2010: Rangers (H) 0-0 

Although we later won 1-0 at Ibrox, thanks to a Rooney penalty, this was a frustrating night at Old Trafford.

Ferguson made 10 changes to the team on duty against Everton in our previous fixture and, while one of them saw Rooney’s return to the XI, it told with a lack of fluidity, against stubborn opponents.

The match is probably most notable for a serious ankle injury suffered by Antonio Valencia, who gave a thumbs up to the crowd while being taken off on a stretcher, as Walter Smith’s men held out for a point. 

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