Gordon Strachan was proud of his team last night and turned on their critics from down south.

Celtic may have lost the chance of qualifying from Group E of the Champions League but manager Gordon Strachan was proud of how his side performed last night. They lost the first game against Manchester United 3-0 but let their 1-0 lead slip at Celtic Park with six minutes to go. After the game Strachan wanted to make his point clear that the team were not 'boys', a reference to comments from former Manchester United midfielder Paul Ince. After the the first game in Manchester, Ince, now Blackburn manager, said the gulf between the two sides had been "embarrassing" and it was a game "between men and boys". Celtic were determined to put on a show in front of a packed Celtic Park and took the lead in the 13th minute when striker Scott McDonald lobbed United stand-in keeper Ben Foster from inside the United box to take the lead. It looked like Celtic would be able to record a victory until six minutes to go when veteran Old Trafford star Ryan Giggs headed the equaliser after Artur Boruc had parried a long-distance drive by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Strachan was pointed in his post-game comments. He said: "Whatever we are, we are men. I am happy that we are not boys as some people said. We can never be called boys because boys don't play like that. I'm not interested where we are (in the group) at this moment in time. I am just happy to get over that game and to have performed they way in which the players can be proud. United are a million miles ahead technically with some of the best players in the world. But we go out of here with pride and that's what we wanted to win back. After an hour of the game we could have taken all eleven players off because they were all tired. Cillian (Sheridan) was the most tired and we had to put on our seventh choice striker (Ben Hutchinson). There was a lot of chopping and changing but with a wee bit of luck it could have been an incredible upset. At least we made them work. And as I said, I'm not worried where it leaves us."

Strachan had a special word for praise for McDonald who has had to cope with the loss of his two regular strike partners, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Georgios Samaras, in recent weeks through injury. Strachan said: "It looked like calm finish from Scott. But what he has done in recent weeks has been phenomenal. He lost all his striking partners and he has tried to keep it going. He can be really pleased with himself. I wanted to keep him on as our experienced striker but he couldn't raise a gallop at the end."

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