Manchester United 1 Basle 1
Gary Neville's first Champions League goal earned a scratch Manchester United side a draw with Basel in their Group D clash at Old Trafford tonight.
United, already through to the quarter-finals and starting with only two first-choice regulars in Rio Ferdinand and Neville, were trailing to a 14th minute strike from Argentine striker Christian Gimenez.
But Neville, wearing the captain's armband, drove home a deflected shot in the 53rd minute to avert what would have been only their second defeat in Europe this season.
The draw meant that Basel, managed by former Tottenham Hotspur boss Christian Gross, could technically still qualify for the last eight by beating Juventus by a large margin in Switzerland in their final second phase match next week.
United had failed to get a shot on target in a poor first half but they improved as the first-team regulars came on in the course of the second half - starting with Ryan Giggs and continuing with David Beckham and Paul Scholes.
Gimenez, who had scored in the first minute when United beat Basel 3-1 in November, struck again when Ferdinand missed a cross from Bernt Haas and the Argentine had time to chest down the ball and send a half-volley past Roy Carroll.
Man Utd: Carroll, Gary Neville, Blanc, Ferdinand, O'Shea, Fletcher, Phil Neville, Butt, Richardson, Solskjaer, Forlan. Subs: Ricardo, Beckham, van Nistelrooy, Giggs, Scholes, Pugh, Webber.
Basle: Zuberbuhler, Atouba, Murat Yakin, Zwyssig, Haas, Chipperfield, Cantaluppi, Barberis, Hakan Yakin, Gimenez, Juilio Rossi. Subs: Rapo, Quennoz, Huggel, Varela, Tum, Duruz, Degen.
Referee: Claus Bo-Larsen (Denmark)