United fail to breach defiant Villarreal defence
Ronaldo's cameo was the high point for United
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Wednesday, 17, Sep 2008 10:48
Manchester United have got the defence of their Champions League crown off to a disappointing start following a 0-0 draw with Villarreal at Old Trafford.
United left a number of stars on the bench for their opening match in Group E, with Cristiano Ronaldo not deemed fit enough to start, Nemanja Vidic also joined him on the bench.
New signing Dimitar Berbatov was nursing an injury he picked up on his debut against Liverpool and had to watch from the stands.
United were left to rue the amount of fire-power unavailable to them as they failed to find a way past an organised Villarreal defence.
The home side dictated play in the opening 45 minutes without ever properly clicking as a team. Villarreal keeper Diego Lopez looked suspect with some of the shots that did come his way but United were unable to exploit his frailty.
Rio Ferdinand had Uited's best chance of the half but he could not get his shot on target after Owen Hargreaves' corner fell to him in the box.
Just before half time Ji-Sung Park looked to have earned a penalty when Joan Capdevila's sent him tumbling but the referee waved away United's claims.
The Spanish side were content to play on the counter-attack but almost managed to take the lead 15 minutes into the second half.
They put together a flowing passing move and Guille Franco was unlucky to see his deft flick come back off the inside of the post. The rebound could have gone anywhere and United were relieved to see Edwin van der Sar gather it.
Alex Ferguson introduced Ronaldo with 20minutes remaining and he managed to bring the game to life as United became increasingly desperate to generate a positive result.
He combined with Wayne Rooney to set up Carlos Tevez but the Argentinean's shot was cleared off the line by Gonzalo Rodriguez.
The Portuguese star could have put the Red Devils in front but misguided his header at the far post after Nani had done well to pick him out with a deep cross.
Rolado then turned provider as he found Jonny Evans only for the youngster's header to come back off the woodwork.
The two sides have now met three times in the Champions League with all three matches ending goalless.