MANCHESTER, England, 7 March 2007 — French striker Louis Saha was injured in training yesterday morning and will miss Manchester United’s Champions League match with Lille.

Midfielder Darren Fletcher, who picked up an ankle injury against Reading last week, will also miss today’s last 16 game after a scan showed ligament damage worse than first thought. He is expected to be sidelined for at least two months.

“Louis was injured in training and was sent for a scan and won’t be fit although we are not yet sure exactly what the injury is,” manager Alex Ferguson told a news conference at Old Trafford yesterday ahead of the second leg.

Saha has scored four goals in six Champions League matches this season and was likely to start against Lille. His place is expected to be taken by Henrik Larsson, playing his last competitive match for United at Old Trafford before his loan spell from Helsingborg ends next week.

“Wayne Rooney is fit for tomorrow, Paul Scholes picked up an injury but trained this morning but Darren Fletcher is out for two months with ankle ligament damage he got against Reading.

“We thought that maybe it would be two weeks but we did the scan yesterday afternoon after the swelling went down and the news was not good.

“It has not been a good two days in terms of injuries, that’s why you need strong squads for occasions like this.”

Ferguson said Saha’s injury would make no difference to the immediate future of fellow striker Larsson, who will go back to Sweden after playing his last match for United against a European Select XI at Old Trafford next week.

He added that forward Alan Smith was fit and would be involved in the squad for the Lille match. United have a 1-0 lead after their contentious victory in the first leg in France two weeks ago when a quickly-taken Ryan Giggs freekick late in the game led was the only goal.

Lille appeared to walk off the pitch in protest after the strike and a subsequent appeal to get the result annulled was thrown out by UEFA. Lille still face a UEFA hearing into crowd trouble during the first leg two weeks ago. Ferguson said United would concentrate on their football and not get involved in any petty feuds with the Lille players who may still harbor grievances about the defeat two weeks ago. Asked if United’s players would be drawn into any disputes on the pitch, Ferguson said: “Not at all. The important thing for us is to focus on the game. “It’s a big event for us and important that we progress to the quarterfinals and do better than we have done for the last two years.

“But we know from playing them last season that they are very hard to beat, they are organized and committed and we expect that again tomorrow.

“When we played them here last year they did not have a shot on goal, but they will have to score tomorrow. And I think they are a better team than they were last year. We were decimated when we played them, but we are a far stronger team now.”

Ferguson also had a wry laugh when it was suggested Lille manager Claude Puel was being spoken of in France as a new version of his Arsenal rival ‘Arsene Wenger’ and was tipped for a move to the English Premier League.

Asked what advice he would give Puel, Ferguson smiled, refused to be drawn on the issue, and just quipped: “Make sure he gets himself a good contract and a good chairman.”