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Villarreal holds Man United

Arsenal snatches late equaliser against Dynamo Kiev

— PHOTO: AFP

ON CLOUD NINE: Juventus’ Alessandro Del Piero celebrates after scoring against Zenit St. Petersburg in the Champions League on Wednesday.

LONDON: Villarreal held defending champion Manchester United to a 0-0 Champions League football draw and a referee sent off the wrong player in Aalborg’s goalless tie at Celtic on Wednesday.

On another night of surprises and comebacks, Arsenal snatched a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Dynamo Kiev and Lyon hit back from two goals down with 17 minutes to go to draw 2-2 with Fiorentina.

Daniel van Buyten captured a 1-0 victory for visiting Bayern Munich at Steaua Bucharest in a meeting of two former European champions and nine-time winner Real Madrid beat BATE Borisov 2-0.

Veteran striker Alessandro Del Piero netted the only goal as Juventus returned to European football’s premier competition with a 1-0 victory over UEFA Cup champion Zenit St. Petersburg.

FC Porto, winner under Jose Mourinho four years ago, captured a 3-1 victory over Fenerbahce, guided by Luis Aragones, the man who led Spain to its Euro 2008 triumph.

More surprises

After Romanian champion CFR Cluj upset AS Roma 2-1 on Tuesday, more surprises followed in Wednesday’s matches.

Villarreal hit the post at Old Trafford and followed up its two draws with Manchester United from 2006 with another. In a bad omen for Sir Alex Ferguson’s team, his side was eliminated in last place in its group three years ago after tying twice 0-0 with the Spanish club.

Veteran Del Piero scored the only goal of the game in the 76th minute and Juventus is neck and neck with another European powerhouse, Real Madrid, which brushed aside Belarussian side BATE with goals by Sergio Ramos (11th minute) and Ruud van Nistelrooy (57th).

The results: Group E: At Manchester: Manchester United 0 drew with Villarreal 0. At Glasgow: Celtic 0 drew with Aalborg 0.

Group ‘F’: At Bucharest: Steaua Bucharest 0 lost to Bayern Munich 1 (Van Buyten 15).

At Lyon: Lyon 2 (Piquionne 74, Benzema 86) drew with Fiorentina 2 (Gilardino 11, 42).

Group ‘G’: At Oporto: Porto 3 (Lisandro Lopez 11, Lucho Gonzalez 13, Lino 92) bt Fenerbahce 1 (Dani Guiza 29).

At Kiev: Dynamo Kiev 1 (Bangoura 63-pen) drew with Arsenal 1 (Gallas 88).

Group H: At Turin: Juventus 1 (Del Piero 76) bt Zenit St. Petersburg 0.

At Madrid: Real Madrid 2 (Ramos 11, van Nistelrooy 57) bt BATE Borisov 0. — Agencies

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