Manchester United were held to a surprising 2-2 draw at home to Danish outfit Aalborg, who deserved the point, but the Reds finish top of Group E. And against the Danes, who had never won away in the Champions League, United had the perfect start,
After going close in the first 30 seconds the home side found the back of the net after 3 minutes. Ryan Giggs dinked a ball over the top of a static visitors defence and Carlos Tevez easily converted.
The Argentinean should have made it two shortly after but dragged his shot wide.
Too often the Danish defence was caught square allowing Wayne Rooney and Nani one-on-ones with the keeper Karim Zaza.
The only warning sign from Aalborg came with a strong run, and shot wide of the target by Marek Saganowski.
But United were made to pay for not making their domination count when the Danes grabbed a shock equaliser.
A free kick was whipped in from the right and Michael Jakobsen's glancing header deceived Tomasz Kuszczak to find the back of the net.
Now it was United's turn to look average as Aalborg knocked the ball around confidently.
And in first half injury time Aalborg's unlikely comeback was complete.
Anders Due, who had just forced Kuszczak into a fine save, crossed from the left and unmarked Jeppe Curth steered a header past a static United keeper to the delight of the vociferous Danish supporters.
Tevez almost began the second half had as he did the first with a goal, but failed to get any power on a free header.
But United were not to be denied and Wayne Rooney restored parity with a driving run and shot.
Paul Scholes and Ji Sung Park had replaced Ryan Giggs and Darron Gibson at half time and their introduction had injected some urgency into United's play.
The Reds clearly had a 'rocket' at the interval from boss Sir Alex Ferguson as their play now had more purpose with an increased tempo, not allowing Aalborg to settle.
Rooney, who was a having a few off the ball battles with the visitor's defence, played in Gary Neville who found the side netting.
Then a header from Danish defender Steve Olfers crashed against his own cross bar as United pressed for a winner but Aalborg were defending bravely.
With five minutes remaining Tevez rounded the keeper but failed to find the target as the elusive victory eluded the Reds, although they have equalled the Champions League record of 19 games unbeaten in the competition.
The United chief said it was all about qualifying for the knockout stage.
"The draw was disappointing, but it is all about getting into the next stage and that's what we have done and now it starts to get interesting.
"Tonight we missed too many chances for my liking. We could have been three up in the first twenty minutes but ended up 2-1 down at half time.
"It was quite shock to us but a lesson that it only takes a second to score a goal. "Having played so well at times it suddenly became difficult as they had a purpose to hold on and defend with great determination and they can take great pride from that.
"We got a goal back and whilst 2-2 is not a great result, fringe players got a game, we remain undefeated and are top of the group. "I don't think we were complacent we just missed too many clear goal scoring opportunities in the first half."
