Champions League team news: Patrice Evra has been ruled out of Manchester United's Champions League clash with Celtic at Old Trafford tomorrow. Evra tweaked a hamstring during Saturday's win over West Brom.
And though he was able to do a bit of running at United's Carrington training ground this morning, Alex Ferguson has decided not to take a chance on his fitness, so John O'Shea will come in.
South American duo Anderson and Carlos Tevez are available after missing out at the weekend, while Michael Carrick (ankle) and Owen Hargreaves (knee) are out.
Celtic defender Gary Caldwell is set to play with stitches in an ankle injury. The Scotland defender was substituted during the 2-1 win over Inverness on Saturday but manager Gordon Strachan is hopeful he will be ready to face the English and European champions.
Target men Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Georgios Samaras and Chris Killen and midfielder Marc Crosas are all out injured. Strachan's lack of options up front could mean Co Cavan teeanager Cillian Sheridan gets an opportunity at Old Trafford.
Ferguson, meanwhile, has tipped Cristiano Ronaldo to be crowned world player of the year in December — but revealed he could leave his star man out of tomorrow night's match.
After scoring 42 goals last season, Ronaldo has already found his shooting boots this term, rattling home his fourth of a season at the weekend.
Given United were crowned kings of England and Europe last May, Ronaldo is odds-on favourite to land the Fifa world prize and the prestigious Ballon D'Or, for which he headed the list of nominated players released over the weekend.
Ferguson cannot see any justifiable reasons why both honours should not come Ronaldo's way.
However, the Red Devils chief feels Ronaldo has not quite recovered from the ankle operation he had in the summer. And after a conversation with former assistant and current Portugal boss Carlos Queiroz, given the swift turnaround, Ferguson is tempted to let Nani loose on Celtic instead.
"Cristiano will win both player of the year awards, I am sure of it," said Ferguson. "If he doesn't, I want to sign the guy who does. But Carlos feels Cristiano is still finding it hard to recover from a Saturday game to a Wednesday.
"I need to look at this game and the fact it is on a Tuesday and assess whether to bring in Nani."
Not that Ronaldo will meekly step aside to let Nani in, no matter how close his relationship with his fellow countryman.
Ferguson saw how the 23-year-old responded to Gary Neville's query about his wellbeing at Old Trafford on Saturday and knows he faces a delicate decision.
"I thought Cristiano was starting to show signs of tiring so I asked Gary to see how he was," said Ferguson. "Ronaldo said he was feeling it a bit and maybe it was time to come off. Five minutes later he told Gary he felt good. Maybe it was the thought he might be coming off.
"But you will find that. The type of human being he is and the type of athlete he is, he always finds something extra."
While Ferguson's dilemma will probably not be resolved until an hour before kick-off, he does not intend to spend any time worrying about Ronaldo's subdued reaction to the 95th goal of his United career.
His response has been viewed in some quarters as an indicator Ronaldo wished his dream move to Real Madrid had gone through this summer.
Ferguson, who persuaded him to stay, is not getting involved.
"I read that stuff," he said. "I am not even going to answer it."
Man Utd squad: Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Brown, Neville, Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evans, O'Shea, Ronaldo, Nani, Fletcher, Anderson, Giggs, Gibson, Park, Tevez, Berbatov, Rooney, Manucho.
Celtic squad: Boruc, Caldwell, Wilson, McManus, Loovens, Naylor, McGeady, S Brown, Hinkel, Hartley, Robson, McDonald, Sheridan, Maloney, M Brown, McCourt, Hutchinson, Nakamura, O'Dea.
