Ferguson remains calm amid Lille storm

The entente threatens to be anything but cordiale tonight as a Manchester United side struggling for strikers after Louis Saha joined the walking wounded contest a place in the Champions League quarter-finals with Lille, who remain incensed by Ryan Giggs' winning goal in the first leg a fortnight ago.

Even the famously becalmed crowd at Old Trafford will surely give Lille's players and management a hostile reception after their "walk-off" in the Stade Felix-Bollaert and formal protest to Uefa about Giggs' quickly taken free-kick. European football's governing body has rejected two appeals to overturn United's 1-0 win, but the French club are still considering a further legal challenge.

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Sir Alex Ferguson disdains what he sees as Lille's attempts to depict United as the big club receiving preferential treatment and themselves as "a small team from France". However, the United manager insisted his focus was "firmly on qualifying".

Perhaps mindful that Giggs sustained a broken cheekbone in dubious circumstances when Lille visited United in 2005, Ferguson added: "It's hard to understand why they're still going on about it, but there's no reason for us to get involved in any grievances or emotional attachments to the game. This is a big event for us. It's important we progress and do better than in recent years."

Grudge match or not, the muscular strain Saha suffered in training yesterday was a severe blow. Henrik Larsson, who replaces him against Lille, returns to Helsingborg in Sweden when his loan ends after the weekend. With Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sidelined by knee surgery, Ferguson could go into next week with only one fit forward - assuming Wayne Rooney avoids injury and suspension in the interim.

Saha, who has four Champions League goals this season, was sent for a scan. Yet even if the results confirm United's worst fears, Ferguson reiterated that Larsson's sojourn at Old Trafford - and with it his opportunity to inscribe his name in the folklore of a second British club - is almost over.

"Henrik will play in the European charity game here next Tuesday and then go home," he said. "An agreement has been reached between myself, the player and the clubs. There's nothing we can do about that now, much as we'd like to."

Ferguson also has doubts over the fitness of Patrice Evra, who was able to play only a minor role in training, and Paul Scholes, who picked up a knock at Liverpool on Saturday before he was sent off. To compound a bleak outlook, a scan has revealed that Darren Fletcher's ankle injury was worse than first thought. The Scotland midfielder has ligament damage and may not play until May.

Just when United seemed immune from the fitness problems afflicting Chelsea, the depth of Ferguson's squad will be tested. The Scot, predicting "two or three changes", said he was confident he had the resources to cope. "Over the past few weeks I've given minutes on the clock to most of the players."

Lille, who helped to eliminate United by defeating them at the group stage last season, have players who could hurt them again if a patched-up team should struggle to gel. The winger Kader Keita is available after missing the first leg through suspension, while Peter Odemwingie demonstrated his potential with a disallowed effort that night and the Cameroon international Jean Makoun once interested Ferguson.

History is certainly on United's side. Only one club have ever won a tie in the knock-out phase of the Champions League after losing the first leg at home - 11 years ago when Ajax overcame Panathinaikos.

Manchester United (probable, 4-4-2): Van der Sar; Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Heinze; Ronaldo, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs; Rooney, Larsson.

Lille (4-4-2): Sylva; Chalme, Plestan, Tavlaridis, Tafforeau; Debuchy, Bastos, Makoun, Obraniak; Fauvergue, Odemwingie.

Referee: L Medina Cantalejo (Spain).