Ronaldo starts on the bench for United

Cristiano Ronaldo was named on the bench as Manchester United began the defence of their Champions League crown at home to Villarreal.

The Portuguese winger’s return to the squad for the first time this season arrived in the nick of time as new signing Dimitar Berbatov missed out after sustaining a knee injury.

Sir Alex Ferguson sprang a surprise by playing 20-year-old Jonny Evans in place of Nemanja Vidic – no doubt looking ahead to the clash at Chelsea on Sunday when the Serbian central defender is suspended.

Gary Neville made his 100th Champions League appearance at right-back while Villarreal had a familiar face in former Arsenal winger Robert Pires in their line-up.

However, Marcus Senna, one of the stars of Spain’s Euro 2008 triumph, began as a substitute.

Man Utd: Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Nani, Hargreaves, Fletcher, Park, Rooney, Tevez.

Subs: Foster, Brown, Ronaldo, Anderson, Giggs, Vidic, O’Shea.

Villarreal: Diego Lopez, Angel, Rodriguez, Godin, Capdevila, Cani, Eguren, Edmilson, Pires, Fernandez, Franco.

Subs: Viera, Santi Cazorla, Ibagaza, Llorente, Javi Venta, Senna, Fuentes.

Referee: Wolfgang Stark (Germany)