Hello, and welcome to our Champions League coverage in what should prove to be a fascinating night of football. I’ll have the team news for you in a sec.

Team news for City’s clash with Napoli is as follows (Ha! Balotelli didn’t even make the bench):

Man City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Kolarov, Toure Yaya, Barry, Silva, Aguero, Nasri, Dzeko. Subs: Pantilimon, Richards, Johnson, Savic, Clichy, Toure, Tevez.

Napoli: De Sanctis, Campagnaro, Cannavaro, Aronica, Maggio, Inler, Gargano, Zuniga, Hamsik, Lavezzi, Cavani. Subs: Rosati, Fideleff, Dossena, Santana, Dzemaili, Fernandez, Pandev.

Now here’s the team news for the game I’ll be focusing on the most (purely because RTÉ are showing it). The big news is that De Gea has strangely been dropped, helping United’s bench to be one of the strongest you’ll ever see in football, if you ignore the fact that Michael Owen is there of course.

Benfica: Artur Moraes, Maxi Pereira, Luisao, Garay, Emerson, Amorim, Javi Garcia, Witsel, Aimar, Cardozo, Gaitan. Subs: Eduardo, Bruno Cesar, Nolito, Machado, Matic, Saviola, Jardel. Man Utd: Lindegaard, Fabio Da Silva, Evans, Smalling, Evra, Fletcher, Carrick, Giggs, Valencia, Rooney, Park. Subs: De Gea, Jones, Owen, Anderson, Berbatov, Hernandez, Nani.

Right, so here are my predictions.

Ajax 2-2 Lyon

Basle 2-0 SC Otelul Galati

Benfica 1-2 Man Utd

Dinamo Zagreb 0-2 Real Madrid

Inter Milan 3-0 Trabzonspor

Lille 2-0 CSKA Moscow

Man City 3-1 Napoli

Villarreal 1-1 Bayern Munich

Let me know if you agree/disagree/don’t care.

Bill tell us that six years ago, Dunphy compared Rooney to Pele apparently, as Ferguson also did earlier today. Of course, Eamo has also repeatedly said Man United were in terminal decline in recent seasons.

Since it’s a bit a Manchester-themed night in the Champions League, we might as well have some Oasis just before we get underway. Though City are more like the Stone Roses I reckon.

And we’re off…

Great run down the right from Antonio Valencia down the right. His cross, though, falls comfortably into the goalkeeper’s arms. United’s line-up suggests they’ll play defensively, but they’ve made a fairly positive start at least.

End-to-end stuff at the moment. Following a Porto attack that comes to nothing, a poor pass from Giggs brings United’s counter-attack to an end. This is followed by Valencia blazing a shot over just outside the box.

Another good run from Evra, until he’s eventually tackled. United are looking dangerous at the moment.

GOAL: Villareal 0-1 Bayern Munich (Toni Kroos)

Our reporters down at the Etihad stadium are telling me City are putting their opponents under a fair bit of pressure. Things are looking up for City at the moment, though you wouldn’t think it, judging by Mancini’s perpetually glum expression.

I spoke too soon about City. Napoli’s Lavezzi has just hit the bar apparently.

Must admit I’ve never been convinced by Carrick. Surely if Ferguson considers this the most difficult Champions League match in the group (which he says he does), then Anderson should be in there ahead of him.

GOAL! Oscar Cordozo: It’s been coming. Cordozo takes it past Evans and blasts it into the corner. Evans was badly exposed there.

United are looking quite vulnerable at the moment. Maybe those eight changes made by Ferguson weren’t such an ingenious idea after all.

Either the current United side isn’t of the same quality as the team that beat Arsenal 8-2, or the Premier League has taken a serious drop in standards. As I type this, Evans – who is having a bit of a nightmare so far – gets away with a blatant handball on the edge of the area.

Ryan Giggs gives it away cheaply and Benfica break again, only for their attacker to overhit a routine pass. The United midfield is not good enough at the moment.

Right, time for a poll. Giggs has been terrible so far. Is he past it?

He’ll probably score a hat-trick now.

GOAL! Benfica 1-1 United (Giggs) *Rushes to delete last post*

GOAL! Basle 1 (Fabian Frei) Otelul Galati 0

Deary me, easily the worst case of commentator’s curse I’ve ever suffered… Also cue: a bazillion jokes about Giggs scoring away from home on Twitter.

It seems United have a fairly esteemed follower on Twitter at the moment.

The half-time whistle has been blown in all the games now. Quite a lack of goals at the moment, though the United game is a fairly entertaining affair so far.

GOAL! Lille 1-0 CSKA Moscow (Moussa Sow) Sorry, amidst all the drama, I somehow missed that goal, which took place on the brink of half time.

The lads in the RTÉ studio reckon United would be happy to take a draw away from the game and that they started off playing for a 0-0. Do you agree?

That Giggs goal is certainly worth seeing again and here it is:

Napoli are fairly dominant at the moment, or so my sources are telling me anyway. Joe Hart has been forced into making a great save from Marek Hamsik’s shot – Irish fans may remember that name.

In fact, it was Kompany’s goal-line clearance, rather than Hart, that saved City.

Whoa! That Pablo Aimar has some shot on him. He blasts it the wrong side of the post from about 30 yards out, luckily for United.

GOAL! Dinamo Zagreb 0-1 Real Madrid (Di Maria)

GOAL! Lille 2-0 CSKA Moscow (Benoit Pedretti)

Ignoring the whole Giggs debacle, which we shall never speak of again (see 20.25), my predictions (see 19.31) are generally looking quite respectable at the moment.

Good passing move from United, in which the ball eventually falls to Fletcher, whose attempted shot is well blocked down by the Benfica defence. Swiftly thereafter, Ryan Giggs misses a one-one with the keeper, blasting it at his legs. A Nolito shot is then heading for the corner, only for Lindegaard to make an acrobatic save. Cue: Schmeichel comparisons. Phew! What a game.

SUBSTITUTION: Fletcher and Valencia off. Hernandez and Nani on.

GOAL! Basle 1 Otelul Galati 1 (Marius Pena)

GOAL! MANCHESTER CITY 0 NAPOLI 1 (Edinson Cavani)

That Napoli goal was deserved according to my sources. Christian Maggio played Cavani through, and he hit it through Joe Harts legs.

SUBSTITUTION: Aimar off for Matic. Disappointing to see the little Argentinian go off. He’s always a joy to watch.

GOAL! MANCHESTER CITY 1 NAPOLI 1 (Aleksander Kolarov)

GOAL! Lille 2-1 CSKA Moscow (Seydou Doumbia)

GOAL! Villareal 0-2 Bayern Munich (Rafinha)

Jeez! The goals really are flying in at the moment.

GOAL! Inter 0-1 Trabzonspor (Ondřej Čelůstka)

Returning to that City goal briefly – it was a stunning free-kick from 25 yards out by Kolarov.

Here’s that Kolarov goal – beautifully taken so it was:

5 minutes left for the two Manchester teams to find a winner.

Nolito misses a guilt-edged chance. Poor defending allows the striker to find himself through on goal, but he scuffs the shot with the goal at his mercy, hitting it into the side-netting.

Benfica are definitely finishing the stronger of the two teams.

GOAL! Basle 2 (Alexander Frei Pen) Otelul Galati 1

Nolita has just taken an appalling dive, pretending to be elbowed. FIFA really should do more to stamp that kind of behaviour out of the game.

FULL TIME: Benfica 1-1 Man United

Every game has now finished bar the Inter match.

The Inter match has now finished.

FT Lille 2-2 CSKA Moscow: Seydou Doumbia scored a last-minute goal to earn a CSKA a very good point.

The lads in the RTÉ studio have some harsh words as usual for United. John Giles has called them ‘arrogant’ on account of their rather lax performance tonight, while Dunphy reckons Tom Cleverley isn’t up to much.

All things considered though, I reckon United will be happy. No injuries, a hard-earned point against a good side away from home and they had the chance to rest players of the calibre of De Gea ahead of the Chelsea game at the weekend.

“A good ball from Carrick for a change.” Man, the lads in the studio really don’t like him.

Alex Ferguson has confirmed De Gea will play against Chelsea apparently.

What do you reckon, given that both Manchester sides struggled at times tonight, does it highlight the relative weakness of the Premier League, which they have dominated? Or was it that they just weren’t in the mood tonight and made the opposition look good?

Right, I’m off to watch Marley and Me.  Thanks for reading, and keep the comments coming below. You can also join us tomorrow night, when we’ll be liveblogging from Tallaght Stadium, as Shamrock Rovers take on Rubin Kazan.