Champions League Group C wrap: United held, Basel go top

English champions Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw away at Benfica in their Champions League Group C opener on Wednesday.

Sir Alex Ferguson opted for numerous changes from the squad that trounced Bolton 5-0 in the English Premier League over the weekend, with goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard making his debut for the Red Devils.

Hosts Benfica took full advantage of a scrappy opening from United, taking a 24th-minute lead in Lisbon.

Paraguayan attacker Oscar Cardozo controlled a high pass from Nicolas Gaitan with his chest before firing home into the far corner of goal to hand the Portuguese giants the lead.

Veteran Ryan Giggs found a response for United after 42 minutes with a sublime 20-yeard shot, the Welshman starting his16th Champions League campaign in style.

Despite their favouritism to win the clash, United were under severe pressure in the second half, with Lindegaard forced to produce several saves from Nolito and Gaitan to earn the visitors a point.

FC Basel jumped to the top of the group with a 2-1 win over Champions League debutants Otelul Galati of Romania.

Fabian Frei headed the opener for the Swiss side at St. Jakob Park six minutes from the break, before Marius Pena equalised for the visitors on 58 minutes, exploiting an error from Basel shot-stopper Yann Sommer.

But when Otelul defender Adrian Salageanu brought down Marco Streller late on, he was sent off and Alexander Frei converted the penalty in the 84th minute to earn a valuable win for Thorston Fink’s men.

Basel also had a man sent off when Benjamin Huggel received a second yellow card in the 88th minute.