Goal-shy Manchester United kicked off their Champions League title defence with a tepid 0-0 home draw against Villarreal in their opening Group E match on Wednesday.
Former champions Juventus celebrated their return to Europe’s top flight with a 1-0 win over Zenit St Petersburg, while Real Madrid strolled to a 2-0 home win over Belarus first-timers BATE Borisov.
It was the third barren stalemate in as many meetings between United and Villarreal after a couple in the 2005/06 group stage, in which United finished bottom of the group while Villarreal reached the last four of the competition.
United carried their patchy Premier League form into the match, in which lack of bite up front reduced them to long-range efforts from Nani and Carlos Tevez in the first half.
The champions were let off the hook on the hour when Guille Franco’s clever back-heel came off the inside of the post, before they also hit the woodwork themselves with a Jonny Evans header from a Cristiano Ronaldo cross.
The Portuguese winger made his first appearance as a substitute after recovering from ankle surgery, but overall United once again looked short of last season’s cutting edge.
”I think we were a bit short in terms of real sharpness and clinical finishing, but games will bring us on and we will improve,” United manager Alex Ferguson said.
”We should have maybe won it with the chances we created, but there were a lot of plus points for us. Players like Owen Hargreaves, Ji-Sung Park and Nani got their first games for us, which will bring them on well.”
Alessandro Del Piero drove in a 76th-minute free kick to give Juventus, who were stripped of their Italian league title in 2006 and demoted to Serie B after a match-fixing scandal, victory against last season’s Uefa Cup winners.
Schuster unhappy
At the Bernabeu, Sergio Ramos gave Real an early lead and Ruud van Nistelrooy pounced in the second half to seal the match with his 54th goal in 69 Champions League appearances.
But Real’s German coach, Bernd Schuster, was not happy with his team’s performance. The nine-time winners of Europe’s premier club competition failed to take full advantage of the gulf in class.
”Seeing the start we made I expected us to score more goals, so I am disappointed,” he said. ”After our first goal we could see that BATE could not react and I didn’t like the way we eased off. You should ask the players why they did.”
Real moved up a gear in the second half but missed several good chances. The visitors had defender Anri Khagush sent off for two bookable fouls.
A late goal from captain William Gallas earned Arsenal a 1-1 draw at Dynamo Kiev after Ismael Bangoura had fired the home side ahead with a 64th-minute penalty.
There was more drama when Olympique Lyon fought back from two goals down to salvage a 2-2 home draw with Fiorentina, while Barry Robson missed a penalty for Celtic in their 0-0 home draw with Danish side Aalborg.
A pair of Alberto Gilardino headers handed Fiorentina a 2-0 lead at the Stade de Gerland before substitute Frederic Piquionne and France striker Karim Benzema hit back.
Daniel Van Buyten’s 15th-minute header gave Bayern Munich a 1-0 win at Steaua Bucharest while 2003 winners Porto enjoyed a 3-1 home success against Fenerbahce.
Early goals from Lisandro Lopez and Lucho Gonzales fired Porto into a 2-0 lead and Lino made it 3-1 in injury time after Daniel Guiza had pulled one back for the visitors. — Reuters