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.