Celtic’s Shunsuke Nakamura gets past Manchester United’s Gabriel Henze during their Champions League match on Tuesday. (Reuters)

London: Celtic and AC Milan took their places in the last 16 of the Champions League despite vastly contrasting fortunes on Tuesday.

Celtic celebrated one of the best nights in their history of European competition by beating Manchester United 1-0 in Glasgow to ensure first or second place in Group F and a berth in the knockout stage for the first time.

Shunsuke Nakamura scored the only goal of the game with a free-kick eight minutes from time, while Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc joined him on the hero’s rostrum by saving Louis Saha’s weakly-taken 90th minute penalty.

Manchester United would have advanced with a win or draw at Celtic, but they now have to avoid defeat at home to Benfica in their last match on December 6 to ensure they do.

Celtic top the group with nine points, followed by United (9), Benfica (7) and FC Copenhagen (4). Benfica beat Copenhagen 3-1 in the other game in the group.

The Manchester United versus Benfica showdown is a repeat of last season in the Champions League, when Benfica eliminated United from the group stage with a 2-1 victory in Portugal.

While Celtic were rejoicing, AC Milan lost 0-1 at AEK Athens, who have now won their last two matches after establishing an unenviable record of 21 games without a victory in the competition.

Julio Cesar scored the only goal from a free-kick after 32 minutes but despite the defeat Milan cannot finish out of the top two places in Group H.

Although they advanced with a defeat, defender Alessandro Costacurta had a night to remember as he became the oldest player to appear in the Champions League aged 40 years 211 days.

The Italians go into the last 16 along with Celtic and previously qualified Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Olympique Lyon, Real Madrid, PSV Eindhoven and Valencia.

CSKA Moscow and Lille could also have clinched their places in the last 16 but results went against them and prevented them from doing so.

In Group G, CSKA lost 0-2 at home to Porto who won with goals from Ricardo Quaresma and Lucho Gonzalez.

That setback, together with Arsenal’s 3-1 comeback win over Hamburg SV in the same group, meant CSKA slipped from first to third in the standings behind Arsenal and Porto.

Real Madrid’s 2-2 home draw with Olympique Lyon in the same group ensures the French champions finish top although both teams knew they had already qualified after the last round.