Relations between Manchester United and Lille reached their lowest ebb yesterday, with Sir Alex Ferguson and Claude Puel exchanging enough verbal insults to ensure a potentially explosive meeting at Old Trafford this evening.

A fortnight has elapsed since Ryan Giggs’s controversial winning goal at the Félix-Bollaert Stadium in Lens prompted Lille’s players to briefly walk off the pitch in protest, but the passing of time has done nothing to quell the hostility between the clubs.

Having warned his players that they could ill afford to be dragged into a grudge match as they seek to reach the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in four years, Ferguson served only to stoke the fires in his programme notes by accusing Puel, the Lille coach, of trying to present United as bullies and expressing disbelief that the French club twice appealed against Uefa’s ruling that Giggs’s goal was legitimate.

Puel reacted in kind, taunting Ferguson about Lille’s role in United’s elimination from the group stage of the competition last season and blaming the Barclays Premiership leaders’ fans for the crowd trouble that had also blighted the first leg in Lens when riot police fired teargas at a section of away supporters.

United’s preparations may have been disrupted by injuries to Patrice Evra and Louis Saha, but the match almost seemed incidental yesterday as Ferguson and Puel tore into each other.

“They have virtually accused us of cheating by taking a quick free kick, despite the fact that around the field their players took similarly speedy action on a number of occasions,” the United manager said.

“Nothing wrong with that, of course, because it keeps the game flowing and it’s not our fault that their goalkeeper took an inordinately long time to line up the defensive wall in front of him.

“The bottom line is that Ryan Giggs showed great presence of mind while their team were caught napping — and that’s not cheating. I believe they should be looking at themselves rather than blaming us. I’m sure that when the dust has settled, Lille’s attempt to get their players to walk off in protest will worry their coach for a long time to come. It certainly should because I have never seen anything like it before,” he said.

“And then to appeal against the Uefa findings that the goal should stand beggars belief and just pours more fuel on what is already an inflammatory situation. More and more, Lille are presenting themselves as a little club against a big one who are bullying them.”

Puel refused to accept any blame for the ugly events and instead turned on Ferguson. “We have heard Sir Alex Ferguson saying lots of things and putting lots of pressure on and we know that this is one of his ways of doing things,” Puel, a friend of Arsène Wenger, Ferguson’s nemesis, said. “In France there is more respect between managers. It can’t have been particularly pleasant to be eliminated by a small club from the Champions League last year.

“It’s a little bit of a paradox to criticise the organisation of Lille when United’s own fans were violent and in possession of counterfeit tickets [in Lens]. We are not paying any attention to the polemic situation which has been created more by Manchester United than us. Maybe it is something they like to create in England, but not in France. We are more concentrated on getting things sorted out on the pitch.”

Ferguson was not finished, however, and wondered how the animosity might affect Luis Medina Cantalejo, the referee from Spain.

Coming so soon after Ferguson told José Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, to “button his lip” after his constant comments about referees, it was some statement.

“The behaviour of Lille in the first leg and their attitude since, marks this tie out as something different, and you just don’t know how the undertones will affect the players, and even more importantly, the referee,” the Scot said.

“I know our guys will be strong because that is something in their character, but our opponents have turned this match into something that goes beyond normal rivalry.

“Inevitably, it puts pressure on a referee. Officials are only human. It will be interesting to see how everyone will react when there is a free kick in range of goal.

“I’m just sorry that I am having to defend our position instead of acknowledging a great result for us in Lille,” Ferguson said.

That “great” result leaves United the favourites to qualify, although they will have to do so without Evra and Saha, while Henrik Larsson will be making his penultimate appearance in a United shirt before returning to Sweden with Helsingborg.

Saha had a scan last night to determine the extent of a thigh injury suffering during shooting practice yesterday morning, but it could hardly have come at a worse time, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer out for a further three weeks after a knee operation, Alan Smith having not made a first-team appearance since the start of November and Larsson returning home.

Against such bitter rivals, however, victory for United should allay such concerns.

Manchester Utd (1) v Lille (0)
Old Trafford, 7.45pm. Live on Sky Sports 1 from 6pm

Lille tend to keep the same tactics for every match. They do not concede many but they do not score a lot, either, especially on the road, so Manchester United should be comfortable. Lille aim to hit opponents with sucker-punch goals, but United are good enough to avoid that, especially if United’s full backs are more cautious than in the first leg, when they pushed up a great deal

TONY CASCARINO