Manchester United’s preparations for the second leg of their Champions League first knockout round tie against Lille this evening have been hit by a spate of injuries that will have José Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, wondering whether he was right when he predicted that Sir Alex Ferguson’s good luck cannot last all season.

Mourinho had declared that “everything is going for United”, claiming that Ferguson’s squad have been almost injury-free this season while Chelsea have been without influential players such as Petr Cech, John Terry and Joe Cole. But United’s luck seemed to be changing yesterday as Ferguson revealed concerns about Patrice Evra while Louis Saha and Darren Fletcher are definite non-starters tonight.

Saha had been due to play in attack against Lille until he injured his thigh during shooting practice yesterday. Gabriel Heinze, the Argentina defender, is on standby to deputise for Evra, while the loss of Fletcher, who has been ruled out for two months with an ankle injury, comes at a bad time, with Paul Scholes, his fellow midfield player, facing a three-match domestic ban for his red card against Liverpool in the Barclays Premiership on Saturday.

However, it is the injury to Saha that is the most worrying, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer recovering from a minor knee operation, Alan Smith out of first-team action since November 7 last year and Henrik Larsson, the former Celtic and Barcelona forward, due to return to Helsingborg once his loan deal expires on Monday.

Saha underwent a scan last night to determine the extent of the injury, with Ferguson maintaining that there was no possibility of retaining Larsson beyond next week. “You can forget that,” the United manager said when asked whether Larsson’s arrangement could change. “That’s definite. Henrik goes back on Monday. The agreement has been reached with myself and Henrik and the club. We have sent Louis for a scan. He won’t be fit to play against Lille and that’s a blow for us.”

The hostility between United and Lille reached new heights last night, with Ferguson and Claude Puel, his opposite number, becoming involved in a war of words as the fallout from Ryan Giggs’s controversial winning goal in the first leg — which prompted Lille’s players briefly to walk off the pitch — continued.

Puel goaded Ferguson about United’s 1-0 defeat by his team in Paris en route to their elimination from the group stage last season, while Ferguson criticised the French club for trying to portray the Premiership leaders as bullies.

“I believe they should be looking at themselves rather than blaming us,” Ferguson said. “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.

“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.”