Rafa Benitez had an unconvincing start to UEFA Champions League life with Inter Milan, as the holders were held to a 2-2 draw at Twente.
I Nerazzurri opened the scoring when Wesley Sneijder, playing in his homeland, drilled a shot into the bottom-right corner of the hosts' goal on 13 minutes, but the Dutch outfit were quickly back on level terms. Walter Samuel fouled Luuk de Jong and, from the resulting free-kick, Theo Janssen hit an effort from 20 yards which went into the top-left corner of the Inter goal.
There was only half an hour on the clock when Twente took the lead in fortuitous circumstances. An inswinging corner from right by Janssen was headed into his own goal by Argentinian forward Diego Milito, who gave his goalkeeper Julio Cesar no chance.
Five minutes later Inter's Esteban Cambiasso saw his shot hit the Twente bar as the visitors pressed for an equaliser. And Samuel Eto'o drew things level once more when he struck just before half-time, his shot from 25 yards finding the bottom-right corner.
Five minutes later Inter's Esteban Cambiasso saw his shot hit the Twente bar as the visitors pressed for an equaliser. And Samuel Eto'o drew things level once more when he struck just before half-time, his shot from 25 yards finding the bottom-right corner.
Inter right-wingback Maicon was shown a yellow card four minutes into the second half after he fouled Twente midfielder Nacer Chadli. Jansen tried his luck from 20 yards out but his shot was over the bar.
With 15 minutes to go, Twente coach Michel Preud'homme, who took over from Steve McLaren when the Englishman moved to Wolfsburg in the summer, replaced striker Marc Janko with midfielder Emir Bajrami as the home side appeared to settle for a share of the spoils.
Sneijder was Inter's most effective player as he led the visiting side's continued attempts to snatch a late winner. With eight minutes to go, Samuel's shot from the right was blocked by Bryan Ruiz as Twente fought off more attacks.
Less then five minutes from the end, Inter coach Benitez tried his last throw of the dice when he brought on midfielder Sulley Muntari for Samuel, but his side could not find a winner.fifa.com
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