PATRICE Evra appears to be a major doubt for Manchester United's Champions League return with Lille at Old Trafford, while Louis Saha has been ruled out through injury.

French full-back Evra, who has been in such fine form this season, was a notable absentee as the Red Devils went through their final training session ahead of the Champions League knockout clash.

Evra played in Saturday's Premiership win at Liverpool but if the former Monaco star is not available, his place will almost certainly go to Gabriel Heinze.

With the exceptions of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Darren Fletcher (both knee) who had already been ruled out, all of Sir Alex Ferguson's first team squad were put through their paces at United's Carrington training HQ.

Their number included Wayne Rooney, who had been a doubt after suffering a gashed knee at Anfield but whom Ferguson has confirmed will be fit to play.

United boast a one-goal advantage from the first leg courtesy of Ryan Giggs' controversial late free-kick, which has already been the subject of two unsuccessful appeals to UEFA by Lille.

The French outfit are still seething at the goal and have not yet ruled out a further appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

United will face a Lille team shorn of two key players but with their confidence restored after a morale-boosting win.

Withdrawal

Lille have not been helped by the forced withdrawal of their midfielders Mathieu Bodmer (ankle) and Yohan Cabaye (stomach muscle tear).

“Both are out of the game,” coach Claude Puel confirmed.

But LOSC will be in bullish mood having trounced Troyes 4-0 in Ligue 1, France’s top flight, on Saturday night.

That brought to an end a three-match losing sequence in the league, and their first victory since January 27 has lifted them back into the division’s top three.

Midfielder Ludovic Obraniak, who should start on the left wing for Lille tomorrow, said: “It is good to have begun the recovery before going to Manchester.

“This success allows us to store away a bit of confidence, because it is true that we have been doubting ourselves a bit over the past few weeks.

“We were not scoring and moreover, we were conceding goals at the end of matches.

“But we have put things back in place and we go to Old Trafford with a great desire and a good feeling in our stomach.”

Lille right-back Matthieu Chalme believes his team-mates are ready to surprise the Red Devils, who were under pressure for periods of the first leg at Lens’ Stade Felix-Bollaert.

“We know what we are going to have to do over there,” he added on his club’s official website, www.losc.fr.

Manchester United (from): Van der Sar, Kuczszak, Neville, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, O'Shea, Silvestre, Evra, Heinze, Ronaldo, Park, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs, Richardson, Larsson, Rooney, Smith.