Villarreal frustrate Manchester United

Cristiano Ronaldo made his first appearance in a Manchester United shirt from last season Champions League Final, but holders can only manage a 0-0 draw with Villarreal. The Portugal international reached a 62nd minute substitute for Ji-Sung Park, but Sir Alex Ferguson side had to settle for a draw with goals at Old Trafford.

Manuel Pellegrini, currently sixth in the league after taking four points from their first two games of the season, were cautious in everything but almost snatched a dramatic victory when Guillermo Franco hit the post with a sublime back-heel. The Yellow Submarine also played 0-0 against two were in the United basa group stage of the 2005-06 competition.

Ferguson's side were eliminated after finishing in the bottom of the group, while Villarreal was going to reach the semifinals, but with Celtic and also in Aalborg his group this season, Ferguson's side will surely not suffer the same fate this time. Villarreal, second behind champions Real Madrid last season, had a slow start at Old Trafford and goalkeeper Diego Lopez was particularly bad.

In the ninth arrived minutes for Owen Hargreaves' corner only to lose Rio Ferdinand but was unable to deflect the ball goalwards. Six minutes later Nani almost captured the shot stopper with a rasping 30-yard drive and, halfway through the first half, Darren Fletcher and Nani combined well to create the park, but the South Korean was shot deflected for a corner Edmilson.

On the half hour mark Lopez made his best save of the night to keep Carlos Tevez unity out a fierce, and before halftime, United States appealed for a penalty were rejected by the referee when Park was in under challenge from Joan Capdevila.

The visitors improved after the break and nearly 61 minutes took the lead when Angel Lopez Ruano crossed Franco. The instinct back-heeled the ball into the interior of the post and, fortunately for United, returned directly to Edwin van der Sar weapon.

United pressed for a winner in the final stages and Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney combined to set up Tevez, whose shot was destined for the back of the net until Gonzalo Javier Rodriguez made a superb final clearance. With seven minutes Jonny Evans crossed for Ronaldo to head against the post when in fact it should have found the net as the match finally ended in a deadlock.