Although United manager Sir Alex Ferguson hinted last
week that he may pick Foster, he said on Tuesday night that he
would leave it late to decide whether to go for Tomasz Kuszczak,
the Polish goalkeeper who played last Wednesday against West
Ham.
Ferguson said: "I haven't made up my mind about who will start.
It's a toss-of-the-coin sort of decision. I really don't know. But
whoever doesn't play at Celtic will play against Queens Park
Rangers [in the Carling Cup next Tuesday]. Edwin will be available
for Saturday against Arsenal.
"We have two outstanding young goalkeepers who deserve
opportunities like this, to give them a taste of a tremendous
European atmosphere."
Foster, who has been linked with a move to Tottenham, suggested
last week that he may have to leave United again to progress his
career.
He was signed for £1 million from Stoke in July 2005, and if he
plays at Celtic Park it will be only his second senior appearance
for United in three years.
If Foster is given the nod, the manager is confident the
25-year-old will pass the test with flying colours. Ferguson said:
"From what I've seen in training, and from what I saw of him [on
loan] at Watford, I would say he's England's next No 1."
Foster, whose first two seasons were spent on loan at Watford,
suffered a cruciate ligament injury that kept him out for most of
last season. He has grown frustrated at his lack of opportunities
since returning in March, and said last week: "I want to be playing
football, that's the main thing for me. As a goalkeeper at my age
now, that's when I need to be kicking on. I need to get more games
under my belt. I'm not sure what the gaffer is thinking. If he
wants to send me out on loan, it's up to him, but I want to kick on
here."
Defender Wes Brown (ankle) is ruled out and Gary Neville rested,
leaving Rafael de Silva to come in at right back. United will also
be without the injured midfield duo of Paul Scholes and Owen
Hargreaves.
England midfielder Hargreaves is set to visit a specialist this
week to see how his knee tendonitis problem is progressing and to
decide the next stage of his treatment. The club have not decided
whether he will definitely need to undergo surgery.
Celtic manager Gordon Strachan, whose side beat United two years
ago courtesy of a stunning free-kick from Shunsuke Nakamura, does
not believe an overly aggressive approach is the way to unsettle
the European Cup holders.
He said: "What does more aggression mean? You can't kick lumps
out of each other, and quite rightly so. It's not like 40 years ago
when Celtic played Leeds United, when you could kick 10 bells out
of each other.
"You can't get away with that these days. Fortunately, they have
brought in some civilised rules since then. We have to be careful
with our passing, we have to get close to their players and when we
get the ball we have to give them a problem.
"There has to be special moments from some of our players to
score, unless we get a freak goal. It will be a special night.
First of all we have to perform, then we have to have a wee bit of
luck, maybe have the decisions going for us and the players all
playing to their maximum."
Celtic lost 3-0 at Old Trafford two weeks ago, with two disputed
goals, as United are level with Villarreal at the top of Group E on
seven points. Celtic and Aalborg have one point.
