Man U face Marseille

MANCHESTER.
Manchester United set out for Marseille tonight for their Champions League soccer Last 16 round tie without several senior players including Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs.
Ferdinand has not played since picking up a calf injury before the Premier League defeat at Wolves on February 5, and his fellow central defender Jonny Evans also missed the trip as he is struggling with an ankle problem.
That meant Chris Smalling was in line to start alongside Nemanja Vidic in the heart of the United back four against the French champions.
Veteran midfielder Giggs was another absentee from the United party, which was also missing Michael Owen, who has a groin injury.
United midfielder Anderson was a non-traveller and could be facing a lengthy absence from the side after being substituted at half-time in Saturday’s FA Cup fifth-round win over Crawley.
He reportedly suffered a knee injury which will need further examination before United can be sure how long he will be absent for.
However, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was able to include Brazilian twins Rafael and Fabio, despite the pair both coming off with injuries during the Crawley match, while youngsters Joshua King and Ryan Tunnicliffe were also selected, along with Gabriel Obertan and Bebe.
And having lost striker Andre-Pierre Gignac to injury, Marseille will place even greater emphasis on defence when they host Manchester United in tonight’s Champions League last 16 first leg.
Gignac left the field in the 74th minute of Marseille’s 2-1 defeat of Saint-Etienne on Saturday after sustaining an adductor muscle injury and has been ruled out for 15 days. After an unconvincing start to his Marseille career, the former Toulouse striker had scored four goals in his previous four league games and his absence forces the French champions into an unwelcome attacking re-shuffle.
Fellow forwards Loic Remy and Brandao also failed to finish the game against Saint-Etienne after picking up knocks in the second half, but both are expected to be fit for the clash at Stade Velodrome.
France international midfielder Mathieu Valbuena is likely to start on the bench, meanwhile, as he continues his recovery from a knee injury.
With United strong favourites to go through, Marseille coach Didier Deschamps says his side will have to do everything they can to prevent the three-time European champions from claiming a precious away goal.
“They were unbeaten in the group phase,” said Deschamps, who captained OM to Champions League success in 1993.
“They’re a team with huge talent up front but they’re also a team that defends very, very well. I don’t think there will be lots of goals.
“Knowing that the first leg is at our place and knowing the importance of away goals, of course we’ll do everything to score but we know that it will also be important not to concede at the Velodrome.”
Having begun the defence of their Ligue 1 title with back-to-back defeats, Marseille have had to dig deep to fight their way back into the title race and currently trail leaders Lille by three points.
The win over Saint-Etienne was their third consecutive league success, but holding midfielder Edouard Cisse knows that victory will not be easily acquired against United, who reached the quarter-finals last season.
“A little 0-0 draw would be fine with us, objectively speaking,” Cisse told the Ligue 1 website. “Obviously I’d love to win 4-0 or 5-0.
“It’s true that we beat Chelsea (1-0) in our final group game but we were both already qualified and it was more like a friendly match. – AFP.