THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — Villarreal held defending champion Manchester United to 0-0 and a referee sent off the wrong player in Aalborg’s goalless draw at Celtic in the Champions League on Wednesday.
The red faces at Old Trafford after United failed to score in front of its own fans were matched by that of Italian referee Matteo Trefoloni at Celtic Park after he showed the red card to Aalborg defender Michael Beauchamp after teammate Michael Jakobsen had fouled home striker Giorgios Samaras just outside the area.
"It definitely looked like an easy decision," said Australian defender Beauchamp, who will miss the next game against Man United unless Aalborg appeals. "He had his two helpers on the sidelines as well and all three of them got it wrong. A bit disappointing for myself but that’s football sometimes.
"Initially I heard No. 4 getting yelled out and I was like, ‘What’s going on there?"’
On another night of surprises and comebacks, Arsenal snatched a late equalizer in a 1-1 draw at Dynamo Kyiv, and Lyon hit back from two goals down with 17 minutes to go to draw Fiorentina 2-2.
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.
After Romanian champion CFR Cluj upset AS Roma 2-1 on Tuesday, more surprises followed on Wednesday.
Villarreal hit the post at Old Trafford and followed up its two draws with Manchester United in 2006 with another. In a bad omen for Alex Ferguson’s team, his side was eliminated in last place in its group three years ago after tying 0-0 twice with the Spanish club.
Not even the return of Cristiano Ronaldo made a difference. The Portuguese star, who said he wanted to move to Real Madrid but decided to stay at United, came back from an ankle injury and went on as a second-half substitute.
"It was important to Cristiano," Ferguson said. "I think he now realizes what a great club he is at, how loyal and supportive they are to him, and he will take great encouragement from that."
While Ronaldo was given a warm welcome by the Red Devils fans, there were some embarrassed faces at Celtic Park in the other Group E game.
Before Trefoloni’s red-card blunder, Barry Robson fired a 30th-minute penalty straight at goalkeeper Karim Zaza after Aalborg defender Steve Olfers brought down Shaun Maloney.
The results leave all four teams level on one point with no goals scored.
Bayern Munich, a four-time winner aiming to capture the title for the first time since 2001, tops Group F after its triumph in Bucharest.
Fiorentina will be furious it couldn’t hold on to a two-goal lead at Lyon after Alberto Gilardino’s first-half strikes in the 11th and 42nd minutes.
Frederic Piquionne replied in the 73rd and Karim Benzema answered with five minutes to go.
"We managed to come back from two goals that we conceded in a naive way," Lyon coach Claude Puel said. "We had a lot of trouble in the first half getting our game together, and in the future we will have to stop conceding goals like this."
There was controversy surrounding Piquionne’s goal, however, because it came from Benzema’s pass while Fiorentina’s Luciano Zauri was nursing an injury.
"I didn’t see the player who was down injured, and I called for the ball," Benzema said. "When I got the ball, I saw that the player was on the floor. But we have rules to continue the match as long as the referee has not whistled."
Ismael Bangoura’s 64th-minute penalty appeared to be guiding Dynamo Kyiv to victory at home against 2006 runner-up Arsenal, which seemed to be headed for another miserable result on its travels to eastern Europe. But Gunners defender William Gallas responded in the 88th for a Group G point.
Porto went top of the standings with Lisandro Lopez (11th) and Lucho Gonzalez (14th) putting the Portuguese team in charge at home. Spanish striker Daniel Guiza replied for Fenerbahce in the 30th but Lino added a third in the final minute.
Juventus was back in the Champions League group phase for the first time since it was relegated from Serie A over a match-fixing scandal that shamed Italian football.
Veteran Del Piero notched the only goal in the 76th minute and left Juve 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).