Lille short on confidence before United tie

LILLE, France, Feb 19 (Reuters) Lille head into tomorrow's Champions League home clash with Manchester United after a morale-sapping run of results that has undermined confidence at the Ligue 1 club.

Short on goals and unable to see out a result to the final whistle in recent games, the conditions are not ideal for a last-16 first leg with Alex Ferguson's Premier League leaders.

Lille looked set for victory over champions Olympique Lyon on Friday, only to concede goals from striker Fred and defender Sebastien Squillaci in the last seven minutes to lose 2-1 at home.

''It's tough at the moment,'' said the northern side's coach Claude Puel. ''We have to do something to prevent these kind of setbacks from happening again.

''We had the game under control, we played pretty well for most of the match -- but we got caught out.'' There was a sense of deja vu for a Lille side who have been struggling to find their attacking bite since the championship resumed after the winter break.

Lille have scored five goals in nine games in all competitions and have not scored two goals in a league game since a 2-2 draw with St Etienne on December 10.

Before going down to Lyon, they had lost 1-0 at mid-table Toulouse, who slotted home the winner in the last minute.

QUESTIONS ASKED ''This has nothing to do with chance. We need to ask ourselves some questions,'' said midfielder Ludovic Obraniak. ''We have to avoid the same kind of mistakes against United.'' Striker Nicolas Fauvergue added: ''We must learn to hang on until the final whistle. It's true, we are not at our best before this game with United.'' To make matters worse, Lille will be without their main goalscorer, Kader Keita, who is suspended.

On Friday, Puel rested several influential players such as Mathieu Chalme, Nicolas Plestan and Mathieu Debuchy, who are almost certain to start on Tuesday.

Ferguson also re-shuffled his pack for Saturday's FA Cup tie with Reading at Old Trafford and ended with up only a 1-1 draw for his trouble. However, it means he should at least be able to field a full-strength side.

Wayne Rooney returns to the starting line-up from a domestic suspension, while Dutch keeper Edwin van der Sar should make his return from a broken nose, taking over from Tomasz Kuszczak.

Portugal winger Cristiano Ronaldo made his comeback on Saturday after a heavy cold, while central midfielder Paul Scholes, a second-half substitute against Reading, is bound to start.

France striker Louis Saha will probably lead the attack against his compatriots, supported by Rooney and Ronaldo, as Ferguson continues his bid to match United's Champions League success in 1999.

Probable teams Lille: 1-Tony Sylva; 20-Gregory Tafforeau, 25-Nicolas Plestan, 4-Efstathios Tavlaridis, 21-Mathieu Chalme; 2-Mathieu Debuchy, 17-Jean II Makoun, 12-Mathieu Bodmer, 29-Stephane Dumont; 35-Ludovic Obraniak, 14-Peter Odemwingie.

United: 1-Edwin van der Sar; 2-Gary Neville, 5-Rio Ferdinand, 15-Nemanja Vidic, 3-Patrice Evra; 7-Cristiano Ronaldo, 18-Paul Scholes, 16-Michael Carrick, 11-Ryan Giggs; 8-Wayne Rooney, 9-Louis Saha.

Referee: Eric Braamhaar (Netherlands) REUTERS PM KN0912