The four 'red' groups started their Champions League campaign yesterday which included both Manchester teams failing to win, the first penalty to be scored and another big shock:
Group A: Manchester City's 100% start to the season ended as they drew at home to fellow Champions League debutantes Napoli. Napoli took the lead through Uruguayan international Edinson Cavani after 69 minutes. A free-kick from Kolarov with fifteen minutes left gave City their first European point.
Group favourites Bayern Munich started off by beating Villarreal, which is their first home defeat in the Champions League. The 2010 runners-up took the lead after just seven minutes through Toni Kroos. Rafinha wrapped the game up fourteen minutes from the end with Munich's second.
Group B: Lille let a two goal lead slip as they drew at home to CSKA Moscow. Lille took the lead a minute before half-time when Moussa Sow tapped in a low cross, Benoit Pendretti doubled Lille's lead twelve minutes after the restart. Seydou Doumbia pulled a goal back for Moscow after 72 minutes before equalising in injury time.
The shock of the night came from the San Siro as the 2010 champions Inter Milan lost to Turkish league runners-up Trabzonspor. Trabzonspor had originally been eliminated in the first qualifying stage but were reinstated after Fenerbache were evicted. Despite having much the better chances, Inter lost when Ondrej Celustka scored from a rebound fourteen minutes from time.
Group C: Manchester United's 100% start to the season also ended after they drew at Benfica. United opted for a more experienced line-up and almost paid a heavy price when Oscar Cardozo put Benfica ahead after 28 minutes. United equalised three minutes before half-time via a superb long-range finish from Giggs, becoming the tournament's oldest scorer and also scoring in the competition for a record sixteen consecutive seasons.
FC Basel started their campaign with a close victory over debutantes Otelul Galati. Basel took the lead through Fabian Frei six minutes before half-time but it was cancelled out by Marius Pena's 58th minute equaliser. Adrian Salageanu was shown a straight for a challenge which conceded a penalty, the ever present Alexander Frei converted it to give Basel the win six minutes from time. Basel were also reduced to ten men with three minutes left when Benjamin Huggel received a second yellow card.
Group D: Real Madrid squeezed past Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia in their opening match. Angel Di Maria finally put Madrid ahead just eight minutes into the second half. Jose Mourinho was banned for the touchline for this game and will be joined by Marcelo in the next after he received a second yellow card for diving in the 73rd minute.
Ajax and Lyon started their campaigns with a 0-0 draw in the Amsterdam ArenA.
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