Manchester United equaled a Champions League record of 19 games without defeat following a 2-2draw with Danish AaB Aalborg on Wednesday.

The draw also secured them top spot in Group E as Villareal lost to Celtics 0-2 in a dead rubber.

United, fielding a weakened team, took an early lead through Carlos Tevez but their unbeaten run in the competition was under threat at halftime after Aalborg scored through Michael Jakobsen and Jeppe Curth.

Aalborg's hopes of winning their first away game in the competition were dashed soon after the restart, however, thanks toWayne Rooney's 51st-minute equalizer.

United had gone ahead in the third minute when Tevez, who started in place of Dimitar Berbatov, ran on to a through-ball from Ryan Giggs to shoot past Karim Zaza.

Jakobsen's neat header from a Anders Due free-kick beat United keeper Tomasz Kuszczak in the 31st minute.

Due led a breakaway and crossed for Curth to score with a superbly placed header.

Rooney collected Anderson's fine pass to drill in a low shot past Zaza from 18 yards to help the home side equal the record.

(Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2008)