Champions League Group G: FC Copenhagen v Man Utd
Date: Wednesday 1 November
Kick off: 1945 GMT
Venue: Parken Stadium
Manchester United will be without Ryan Giggs, Louis Saha and Gary Neville for Wednesday's Champions League match against FC Copenhagen.
Neville has suffered a recurrence of a calf injury, and will also miss the Premiership match against Portsmouth.
Giggs could also miss Saturday's match against Pompey after sustaining a hamstring injury, while Saha has been ruled out because of a knee problem.
But full-back Patrice Evra has shaken off an ankle injury.
And teenage defender Kieran Lee, who scored United's extra-time Carling Cup winner against Crewe last week, is also included in the squad.
"We had a tough game at Bolton on Saturday and we have another Saturday match this week, which doesn't make it any easier for us in terms of the injury situation," said United boss Sir Alex Ferguson.
"But we do have players like Wes Brown and Gabriel Heinze to come in so things are not so bad."
Man Utd (from): Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Heinze, Silvestre, Lee, Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, O'Shea, Fletcher, Jones, Richardson, Rooney, Smith, Solskjaer.
BIG MATCH STATS
Definitions of terms used:-
Champions League (CL) - only group phase matches and beyond of this competition which began in 1992-93.
Champions Cup/Champions League - all matches played since it began in 1955-56 including qualification matches.
European matches - all matches played in the major European tournaments (Fairs Cup, Uefa Cup, Cup Winners' Cup, Champions Cup, Champions League).
Uefa Super Cups, Intertoto Cups and the old Intercontinental Cup competition are excluded.
Qualification
If Manchester United win this match, they are guaranteed a place in the last 16. A draw will also be enough if Benfica and Celtic also draw in the other match in this group.
Head-to-heads
Manchester United and FC Copenhagen met each other for the first time in the reverse fixture, United winning 3-0.
Copenhagen have hosted an English club before, losing 0-1 to Chelsea in the 1998-99 Cup Winners' Cup. The Red Devils have travelled to Denmark on one previous occasion, winning 2-6 at Brondby in 1998-99 - United's biggest away win in the Champions League and the only time that a club has scored six goals in an away match in the competition.
European history
Copenhagen are making their debut in the Champions League. They reached the group stage this season on their fifth attempt.
Manchester United have won the Champions Cup/Champions League twice (1968, 1999), the Cup Winners' Cup once (1991), the European Super Cup (1991) and the Intercontinental Club Cup (1999). They are taking part in their 12th Champions League campaign.
Current European form
FC Copenhagen have one point from their 0-0 draw with Benfica and share last place with the Portuguese club. They're yet to score a goal in the Champions League.
United lead Group F having won all three of their matches so far.
Player and disciplinary info
Andre Bergdolmo is FC Copenhagen's most experienced player in the Champions League with 35 appearances.
Gary Neville (94), Ryan Giggs (88) and Paul Scholes (87) are three players from the Manchester United squad who rank amongst the 10 players with most Champions League appearances.
Other miscellaneous facts
United manager Alex Ferguson has been in charge of 184 European matches in his career. His total is the second highest ever and he only trails Giovanni Trapattoni (196). Ferguson's Champions League total of 118 matches is a record for the competition. Ferguson will celebrate his 20th anniversary as Manchester United manager five days after this match.
United's Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Copenhagen coach Stale Solbakken were both in the Norway squads for the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000, and Copenhagen's Jesper Gronkjær scored against United when he was playing for Chelsea in the Premiership.
