Man Utd beats Celtic 3-1 in Canadian exhibition

Man Utd beats Celtic 3-1 in Canadian exhibition

Published Jul. 17, 2010 5:27 a.m. ET

Dimitar Berbatov scored the first goal and set up a second to help Manchester United beat Celtic 3-1 Friday night in an exhibition.

Substitutes Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley also scored for the English Premier League team.

Georgios Samaras got the goal for Scotland's Celtic at the Rogers Centre, which installed a temporary grass field.

Berbatov deftly controlled a pass from Mame Biram Diouf with his right foot before using his left to bury it in the net in the 34th minute. Celtic tied it in the 61st after Wes Brown dragged down an attacker in the box.

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Welbeck put it away in the 79th when Berbatov set him up to poke the ball past Lukasz Zaluska.

''The second goal killed the game,'' Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said. ''A really fantastic goal, too. Marvelous bit of football from Berbatov.''

Cleverley's shot in the 86th changed direction after hitting a Celtic defender.

United was without its World Cup players - England's Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick, France's Patrice Evra, Serbia's Nemanja Vidic and South Korea's Ji-sung Park - and some injured ones, including injured captain Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, and Owen Hargreaves.

But Berbatov was there to lead Manchester United to the win in front of a crowd of 39,193.

''Second half there were some fantastic moments he produced,'' Ferguson said. ''It underlines the one great factor, that class he has. You can't take that away from him.''

Mexico forward Javier Hernandez is due to join the team in Houston on July 27, as the team's five-stop North American tour continues. Man United visits Philadelphia; Kansas City, Mo.; and Guadalajara, Mexico.

Celtic, which opened its North American tour Wednesday with a 1-0 loss to the Philadelphia Union, plays the Seattle Sounders on Saturday.

''I was really pleased with them tonight,'' Celtic manager Neil Lennon said of his squad. ''I thought the level of performance was excellent. A lot of positives to come out of the game.

''For 75-80 minutes, our performance was very very good - against one of the top teams in Europe.''

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