Defending champions Inter Milan struggled to a 2-2 tie in their season opener against FC Twente in UEFA Champions League action Tuesday.
Inter is looking to become the first side to retain the European title since hometown rival AC Milan achieved the feat in 1990.
But the lively Dutch squad battled to a draw in their Champions League debut under new coach Michel Peud’homme.
Also in Group A Tottenham drew 2-2 with Werder Bremen.
A similar fate befell Manchester United in the so-called “Battle of Britain” between Manchester United and the Rangers of Glasgow at Old Trafford which ended in a 0-0 tie.
Wayne Rooney failed to inspire his Manchester squad to victory, even though the team was much-changed from the group that surrendered a comfortable lead to draw 3-3 against Everton Saturday.
It was a painfully tight stalemate Tuesday, owing greatly to the stifling tactics of Rangers.
The greatest talking point regarding Rooney before half-time was when the forward turned his ankle in the turf, though the forward was able to shake off the minor scare.
Antonio Valencia was not so fortunate as the Ecuador winger sustained a suspected fractured ankle in an innocuous-looking incident.
He was carried on a stretcher from the field and United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said he feared Valencia could be a long-term absentee, AFP reported.
Ferguson compared the horrific injury to the one suffered by former striker Alan Smith against Liverpool in 2006.
“As soon as I saw the Rangers player waving to the bench we knew it was a bad one,” he said.
There were no reports of violence in the stands, in spite of heavy riots in Manchester the last time the Glasgow giants visited the city in 2008. For that game, against Russia’s Zenit St. Petersburg, as many as 200,000 rowdy fans descended on the city and caused chaos.
Meanwhile, current Spanish league leaders Valencia topped Group C after a convincing 4-0 win at Champions League new boys Bursaspor of Turkey, AFP reported.
Barcelona began their European campaign in similarly spectacular fashion, smashing five typically well-worked goals past Greek champions Panathinaikos in a 5-1 victory at Camp Nou.
The visitors had the temerity to take a 20th-minute lead through former Lyon forward Sidney Govou, but Barca were 3-1 up at the interval thanks to a Lionel Messi brace that sandwiched a close-range David Villa strike.
Messi spurned the chance to claim a hat-trick when his tame second-half penalty was saved, but goals from Pedro Rodriguez and Dani Alves in the 78th and 93rd minutes added gloss to the scoreline.
“We couldn’t win on Saturday and knew we had to win tonight,” said Pedro, whose side fell to a shock 2-0 defeat at home to newly promoted Hercules in La Liga at the weekend.
An 87th-minute goal by Dame N’Doye earned FC Copenhagen a 1-0 win at home to Russia’s Rubin Kazan in the other group game.
Lyon, semi-finalists last season, and two-time champions Benfica both got off to winning starts in Group B.
The French side prevailed 1-0 at home to Schalke, who had center-back Benedikt Howedes sent off in the first half after Michel Bastos had put Lyon ahead.
Benfica beat Israeli competition debutants Hapoel Tel-Aviv 2-0 in Lisbon, with Brazil center-back Luisao netting the 5,000th goal in Champions League history.
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