SOME Celtic fans are unhappy enough with life right now to claim the Hoops Legends team is better than their current first team.
Whether or not that’s true, a few of those heroes of the past certainly showed there’s still life in those old legs as they stormed back to beat their Man Utd counterparts on penalties after an entertaining four-goal thriller at Celtic Park.
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And given their efforts in Almaty the first-team could definitely take some lessons from the seniors as the Hoops won the match 4-3 on penalties.
Tom Boyd, Tosh McKinlay and ex-United hero Brian McClair managed the Hoops legends while Bryan Robson took charge of the Red Devils old boys.
Among the respective starting lineups were Joe Hart, Mikael Lustig, Charlie Mulgrew, Jan Venegoor of Hesselink, Michael Carrick, Nani, Dimitar Berbatov and Darren Fletcher.
And it was Scotsman Fletcher who fired United into the lead with 19 minutes on the clock.
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A strike from 20-yards out beat Celtic keeper Joe Hart and saw the visitors enter the lead.
Ten minutes later and the Red Devils had doubled their advantage, this time it was Dimitar Berbatov on the scoresheet.
The striker blasted the ball past Hart into the roof of the net and Celtic found themselves two down.
United remained two to the good at the interval, but Celtic were unlucky not to have found the back of the net.
Kevin Pilkington, Darren Gibson and Chris Eagles were brought on at half time for United Legends, whilst Tom Boyd brought on Boruc, Samaras, Johansen and Petrov just to name a few.
Injured Hoops first team star Jota was spotted in the stands in the second half, with many supporters in the ground wishing that January would come sooner as the Portuguese is set to return in the new year.
Half-time substitute Andreas Hinkel also joined Jota on the medical table as he was forced off early into the second period.
Despite the injury setback, the Hoops legends kept knocking on the door.
And their efforts were rewarded 20-minutes from time.
Scott McDonald scored 62 times for Celtic back in the day, and he was back on the score sheet as he pulled one back for the Hoops on the 70-minute mark, and Celtic showed no signs of letting up.
Shaun Maloney was welcomed back to Celtic earlier in the year as Proffesional Player Pathway manager, but he showed he’s still got it as he levelled for Celtic five minutes after McDonald’s effort.
The two teams couldn’t be separated, meaning Celtic fans had to relive the nightmare of watching the Hoops in a penalty shootout just weeks after they crashed out of the Champions League on penalties in Kazakhstan.
Celtic win the shoot-out 4-3, Lee Naylor beating Kevin Pilkington with decider.
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Also on the mark for Celtic were Simon Donnelly, Mulgrew and McDonald.
United scorers were Michael Carrick, Nani and Chris Eagles, with Blackett and Gibson the sinners.
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