United travel without Butt

England midfielder Nicky Butt was the notable absentee as Manchester United headed off to Athens for the resumption of their Champions League campaign.

Top scorer Ruud van Nistelrooy had already been ruled out of tomorrow’s clash with Olympiakos with a hamstring injury and manager Sir Alex Ferguson admitted United have still to fully establish the reasons behind the ankle problem which kept Butt out of Saturday’s Premiership draw at Fulham and prevented him from travelling today.

The 27-year-old is also almost certain to miss Saturday’s home game with strugglers Aston Villa but there was some good news for United, with Ferguson making optimistic noises about a return for van Nistelrooy and Rio Ferdinand, who has had knee surgery, against Graham Taylor’s men.

“It’s possible both Ruud and Rio could be fit for Saturday,” said Ferguson.

“At the very worst it will be Southampton the following week and the same is true for Nicky. They just need a bit of time although we are still assessing what the cause of Nicky’s injury is.”

With Butt absent, Juan Veron will continue in central midfield, although that might have been the case anyway given the Argentine’s impressive form in Champions League combat this season.

Veron scored with a stunning strike in United’s 4-0 home triumph over the Greeks at Old Trafford three weeks ago, which maintained their 100% record and an iron grip at the head of Group F after three games.

Ferguson estimated his team just need one point from their remaining group games to ensure a place in the second stage and will be anxious to wrap up qualification ahead of another draining trip to Cyprus to face Maccabi Haifa next Tuesday.

“We are in a terrific position to make the second stage and if we can achieve that it would really take the pressure off us next week,” he said.

“We only need a draw but we are going for a win. The atmosphere will be volatile but we are starting to show our experience in Europe now and when you give yourself the kind of advantage we have not, you have to take it.”

Olympiakos have suffered successive defeats since opening their campaign with a stunning 6-2 home triumph over last season’s runners-up Bayer Leverkusen and have changed their coach since facing United last month.

Even though he steered his team to the top of the Greek league until its suspension over a TV contract row, Panagiotis Lemonis still fell out of favour and has been replaced by former Greece Under-21 trainer Yiannis Kollias.

Squad: Barthez, Ricardo, G Neville, P Neville, Blanc, O’Shea, May, Silvestre, Beckham, Veron, Scholes, Giggs, Solskjaer, Forlan, Fortune, Richardson, Pugh, Tierney, Chadwick, Roche.