United face weakened rivals

By Kevin Ashby

Manchester United FC manager Sir Alex Ferguson said that he would have preferred to meet Juventus FC at their strongest after learning that the Italian champions' squad had been ravaged by flu ahead of Wednesday night's summit meeting of the two leading teams in Group D.

Top billing
The build-up to a UEFA Champions League match Sir Alex billed as "the biggest in the world" has been overshadowed by a bug which has left Juventus coach Marcello Lippi with just 15 fit players. As if facing United, the competition's leading scorers with 21 goals in eight matches, was not daunting enough, Juve will have to cope without at least three players who would have been certain starters at Old Trafford.

Buffon blow
The absence of Gianluigi Buffon, the world's most expensive goalkeeper, may be the most keenly felt. Meanwhile, fellow flu victims Marco Di Vaio, whose goal set Juve on their way to a 2-1 victory at Parma AC on Sunday, Gianluca Zambrotta, Marcelo Salas and Alessandro Birindelli have also remained in Italy, as have the injured Mark Iuliano and Igor Tudor.

'Fantastic coach'
Sir Alex feels for his opposite number - Lippi is a close friend and "fantastic coach" - but still expects the Turin side to present a stiff challenge in a fixture which pits together two sides with perfect records in the second group stage. "We still have to do a job because, whoever plays, they are Juventus and you don't get easy games against them," the Scot said. "There is always a worry when you play a weakened team but we will not fall into that trap."

'Excellent individuals'
Sir Alex was in Parma to witness Juventus ease to the top of Serie A two days ago, a game in which he felt they "were playing at their best". Having been deprived of some key cogs through flu, and with the pivot, injured playmaker Alessandro Del Piero, already missing, the Juventus machine is not likely to run as smoothly in Manchester, though the United manager cites "excellent individuals like [Edgar] Davids and [Pavel] Nedved" as two reasons to avoid complacency. Nedved is likely to play in an advanced role behind David Trezeguet, the lone striker.

Greatest victory
Juventus will meet a United side missing only the suspended Juan Sebastián Verón and the injured Laurent Blanc. Lippi called United's 2-0 FA Cup defeat by Arsenal FC at the weekend "an accident", and expects his opponents to be a different proposition in Europe. Sir Alex will not need to remind his players that they produced what he called the "club's greatest ever performance" in eliminating Juve at the semi-final stage in 1999.

Under the weather
The last four must seem some distance away for Lippi at the moment. Showing signs of flu himself (with a temperature in the high 30s), the silver-haired coach hinted Juventus may even request that the match be postponed. "I haven't even thought about the game, to be honest," he said. "I'm going to see how things develop - three or four new players also have symptoms. If tomorrow morning shows more players have flu it would be impossible to play, as we would only have ten players."

'Unbelievable' situation
Lippi added: "What is happening at the moment is unbelievable especially as we are playing such a strong team." The coach called for "strong heads" - and this could apply, in particular, to goalkeeper Antonio Chimenti, who - presuming Juve do have eleven fit players - will make his second European appearance this season in place of Buffon.