United fail to fire

Champions League: Man United 0, Villarreal 0

MANCHESTER United made an unconvincing start to the defence of their Champions League title after being held at home by Spanish side Villarreal.

The Reds, beaten by Liverpool in the Premier League on Saturday, still appear to be suffering a reaction to last season’s double-winning exploits.

Last night’s Group ‘E’ result brought to an end a Champions League record of 12 successive home victories stretching back three years.

Ironically, it was Villarreal who were also involved in a goalless draw at Old Trafford that night in November 2005.

It took the comeback of Cristiano Ronaldo for the final half hour to provide a much-needed lift in what has been a difficult and frustrating first month of the season.

While Ronaldo, back after ankle surgery, provided a spark which had been missing, it would have been asking a lot for him to transform United’s fortunes single-handedly with so many of his team mates under-performing.

Yet Sir Alex Ferguson was far from disappointed with his side’s display.

He said: “There were a lot of plus points. The players enjoyed themselves and at times we played some good football and I was pleased with the team performance.

“It was difficult for the likes of Owen Hargreaves, Ji-Sung Park and Nani who have not had much football, and they will be better for it.

“I have no complaints and on another day we might have scored four or five. We can take credit for creating a lot of chances.

“We are still a little short in terms of sharpness and clinical finishing that you expect from us, but the games coming up will put that right.”

Ferguson made sweeping changes — seven in total — from Saturday’s defeat at Liverpool, though three were enforced as Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Carrick were ruled out through injury while Paul Scholes was suspended.

Ryan Giggs, Anderson, Nemanja Vidic and Wes Brown were relegated to the bench, with Gary Neville, Jonny Evans, Darren Fletcher, Ji-Sung Park and Nani making the starting line up.

Making so many changes was a calculated gamble and for an hour United lacked the cohesion you expect from them.

They were fortunate not to fall behind in the 60th minute when Guille Franco’s back flick struck an upright.

Ronaldo’s introduction literally lifted the fans off their seats — they give him a standing ovation when he stepped on to the pitch having clearly forgiven him for wanting to leave in the summer — and more importantly he lifted his team-mates.

United found an extra gear, although they were unable to pierce the defence of a team which finished runners-up to Real Madrid in La Liga last season.

United had two great chances in the final 18 minutes to break the stalemate.

A Carlos Tevez shot beat ’keeper Diego Lopez but not captain Gonzalo Rodriguez, who cleared off the line, while Evans struck a post with a spectacular diving header from a Nani cross.