Man Utd v Sparta Prague

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Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy will be back in the starting line-up for the match against Sparta.
The Dutch international is serving a three-match domestic ban but can still play in European competition.

Alan Smith is set to drop back down to the bench as van Nistelrooy returns to partner Wayne Rooney up front while Quinton Fortune (calf) is sidelined.

The visitors will be without Miroslav Baranek (ankle) and Petr Johana (knee) for the trip to Old Trafford.



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Head-to-head


Manchester United and Sparta Prague have only previously met once - in their most recent clash in this competition. The fixture ended in a 0-0 draw.
Manchester United have hosted Czech opposition on two previous occasions. They beat Dukla Prague 3-0 in November 1957 and drew 1-1 at home to the same opponents in September 1983.
Sparta Prague have visited England on five previous occasions, winning just once, a 3-2 victory at Watford in November 1983.
Sparta's last visit to England resulted in a 0-0 draw at Chelsea.
The Czechs have failed to score in their last three matches against English clubs and four of their last five matches against English clubs. All five of these games were in the Champions League.
Current Sparta Prague player Karel Poborsky has also played Champions League football for Manchester United.
European history


Sparta Prague are taking part in their sixth Champions League campaign.
They progressed from the first group stage in 1999/2000, 2001/2002 and last season.
Their best ever European performance was in the 1972/1973 Cup Winners' Cup where they reached the semi-finals, losing to AC Milan. Milan also knocked them out of last season's Champions League at the last 16 stage.
The next goal conceded by Sparta will be the 150th in Champions Cup/Champions League.
Manchester United compete in a record ninth successive Champions League this season.
Last season was the first time in this series that United failed to reach the last eight.
United have successfully negotiated every group phase since 1996/1997. Their only failure was in 1994/1995.
Manchester United won the Champions League in 1998/1999.
United also won the Champions Cup in 1967/1968 and the Cup Winners' Cup in 1990/1991.
Current European form


Manchester United are unbeaten in their last 20 European home matches, scoring in the last 16.
18 of these matches were in the Champions League, the third longest streak in the competition's history.
Sparta Prague have not won any of their last seven Champions League away matches.
Manchester United are unbeaten in their last six European matches since losing to FC Porto in February 2004.
United are second in Group D after winning once and drawing twice.
Sparta Prague are currently bottom of Group D with just one point from their three matches.
This is Sparta's worst start to a CL campaign as they have always previously won one of their opening three matches.
Player and disciplinary info


No one is suspended for this match.
Gabriel Heinze, Paul Scholes (Manchester United) and Jiri Homola, Tomas Sivok and Radoslav Kovac (Sparta Prague) will be suspended for the CL match following this, if they receive a yellow card here.
Gary Neville holds the record for most Champions League appearances by an Englishman (87), and is joint second on the all-time list behind Raul (90).
Wayne Rooney's hat-trick against Fenerbahçe marked only the fourth time ever that a player had scored a hat-trick on his Champions League debut.
Marco van Basten (1992), Faustino Asprilla (1997) and Aiyegbeni Yakubu (2002) have also achieved this.
Ruud van Nistelrooy is the highest scoring Manchester United player ever in Europe with 31, ahead of Denis Law's previous record of 28.
He is the highest scoring Dutch player ever in Europe with 40 ahead of Newcastle United's Patrick Kluivert (39) and Rob Rensenbrink (37).
Paul Scholes shares the record for most Champions League goals by an Englishman (18) with Andy Cole. Scholes could move clear of Cole if he nets against Sparta Prague.
Ruud van Nistelrooy (37), Ryan Giggs (20), Ole Gunnar Solskjær (19) and Roy Keane (12) are also top scorers for their nationalities.
Midfielder Karel Poborsky is Sparta's most experienced Champions League player with 28 appearances in the competition.
Defender Vladimir Labant is the top scoring Sparta player with five Champions League goals.
Martin Petras will celebrate his 25th birthday one day before this match is played.
Other miscellaneous facts


Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has been in charge for all 104 matches that his team have played in the Champions League. No manager has more games in the competition under their belt.
United fail to score in the last match (at Sparta), after scoring eight times in their first two encounters combined.
United can neither qualify for the eighth finals nor be eliminated from contention.
The goalless draw at Sparta put an end to a string of 12 CL matches in which United had netted at least once.
This means they failed to improve the CL record for English clubs, a record that they had first set in 1998-1999.
The Czechs will be eliminated from last 16 contention if beaten here while Fenerbahçe fail to defeat Lyon.
Manchester United lost 2-0 at Portmouth on Saturday, and are now seventh in the Premiership, nine points behind leaders Arsenal and second placed Chelsea.
The defeat was only their third in 17 matches in all competitions this season - a 3-1 defeat against Arsenal in the Community Shield and a 1-0 Premiership defeat at Chelsea being the earlier reverses.
Czech league leaders Sparta Prague won 2-0 against second placed Sigma Olomouc on Saturday, and have now opened up a seven point lead over Sigma Olomouc.

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