The second half of Matchday One in our Champions League adventure came to a close last night with both Manchester sides ending affairs on level footing, another healthy smattering of red cards and one manager struggling for air already.

Here’s our take on Wednesday’s eight fixtures, starting with the sides a little closer to home…

Honours Even at the Etihad

Carlos Tevez returned to the bench as Roberto Mancini brought back Edin Dzeko to lead the line against Napoli. Despite their recent goalscoring form, City spurned several chances and had to thank Aleksander Kolarov for rescuing a point against the Italians. The left-back hammered home a free-kick to cement his place as one of the most frustrating Fantasy players in recent memory.

Napoli were content to allow their hosts the majority of possession and hit them on the counter with speed and intent. A Gareth Barry mistake gave Christian Maggio the chance to set up Edinson Cavani as the visitors went ahead just before seventy minutes but Napoli- also making their Champions League debut- will be the happier of the two after a share of the spoils.

Giggs to the Rescue

Sir Alex Ferguson rang the changes for Man United’s trip to Benfica. Perhaps with the weekend game at home to Chelsea in mind, Fergie made eight changes from the side that won 5-0 at Bolton; only Patrice Evra, Jonny Evans and Wayne Rooney kept their place, as the visitors opted for Rooney as a lone forward. A great run and finish from Ryan Giggs just before half time was enough to give United a point in what was regarded as the trickiest tie of their group fixtures.

Benfica’s left winger Nicolas Gaitan caused United problems throughout. Playing as part of a front three, his trickery eventually undone the visitors’ back-four as he set up Oscar Cardozo to put the Portuguese side ahead on twenty-four minutes with a sublime finish. Benfica showed plenty going forward and Cardoza ensured Anders Lindegaard was kept busy with a series of efforts, though United’s experience told in the end and the home side will be happy with a point.

A Real Slog For Madrid

Marcelo will have had the most stories to tell on the plane ride home from Croatia last night. The good tales: Marcelo, and his fellow defenders, picked up a clean sheet. He got a singly recovery point too. Even better reports: calm passing around the box ended with Marcelo teeing up Angel Di Maria in open space to score for Madrid. The unpleasant fables: A bad tackle and a cynical dive in the box saw him pick up two yellow cards and head for an early bath.

Seven points and plenty to talk about for Marcelo, including the fact he’ll miss Ajax at home in two weeks. An unemphatic victory for Madrid but more than enough chances were created.

A Lille Bit Of A Collapse

The French champions were on top of the game in their return to the Champions League. An hour in and two goals to the good courtesy of Moussa Sow (a sumptuous back heel) and Benoit Pedretti (twenty yarder) and signs were looking positive that Joe Cole’s new team would celebrate a perfect beginning.

A Seydou Doumbia striking masterclass brought CSKA Moscow right back into the match, however. Ducking behind the Lille defensive line and then charging through at full tilt salvaged a two-all draw for the Russians leaders and earned the Ivorian pride of place as top-scoring striker. Fernando Torres is currently in second place.

Last Gasp Saloon

Following their 4-3 defeat at Palermo, Gian Gasperini needed to put Inter back on the right track at home to Trabzonspor. The end result was anything but that and leaves the new manager already looking a very solitary figure. Inter lost 1-0 at home to a side that, just a couple of weeks ago, might not have qualified for the Europa League.

One of our hot tips Gabriel Milito could only make do with a substitute’s appearance but the goal after his introduction came at the other end of the pitch from the touch of Ondrej Celuska -the matchday top scorer on 14 points- following a game of pinball in the Nerazzurri box.

Zwei Frei High Five

FC Basel and Oţelul Galaţi played out a highly competitive match. The Romanian champions didn’t roll over when Fabian Frei put the Swiss side ahead as they bode their time before Marius Pena brought the game level after capitalising on a Yann Sommer parry.

Marco Streller, who also assisted the first goal, won Basel a penalty late on in the game which saw Fabian’s much more experienced namesake Alexander Frei convert to close out the scoring with a 2-1 victory for the Swiss contingent. They didn’t end the game with a full side, though; Benjamin Huggel picked up two cards to join Adrian Salageanu (sent off for the aforementioned penalty) on the sidelines.

Bayern Start Off Comfortably

Goals from Toni Kroos (assisted by Frank Ribery) and right-back Rafinha saw Bayern Munich kick off their Champions League campaign at a canter on their visit to Villarreal.

The biggest stories of note from this match-up were the injuries suffered; Mario Gomez failed to come out for the second half and Rafinha only featured after Daniel Van Buyten left the proceedings in the first quarter.

Goalless in Amsterdam

The only game of the night which returned no goals was the Group D tie between Ajax and Lyon. From a Fantasy perspective there was not too much to glean other than the mid-low budget options such as Toby Alderweireld (Ajax) and Bakary Kone (Lyon) grabbing clean sheets as well as a healthy dose of the new “recovery points”. Christian Eriksen, Miralem Sulejmani and Bafetimibi Gomis could have had goals on more fortunate days.