LENS, France (AFP) - Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has hit out at television companies for sabotaging his preparations for the crucial Champions League last 16 first leg trip to Lille.

Tv scheduling meant United were forced to kick-off their FA Cup fifth round match against Reading at 1715GMT on Saturday, despite having to play a European match just three days later.

Lille, on the other hand, have had an extra day´s rest after their league clash against French champions Lyon was brought forward to Friday night.

And Ferguson feels that could make a difference when the teams meet at Lens´s Stade Felix Bollaert, where Lille play their European games due to their own ground being unsuitable for such high-profile matches.

"The television companies haven´t been fair to us. Why have we had to play this game at 5.15 on a Saturday night before an away game in Europe on the Tuesday night?" moaned Ferguson after the Reading game, which his side drew 1-1 despite dominating.

"People want us to do well in Europe, but we are not given a proper chance. If you look at Lille, they played Lyon on Friday night, but we have to play on a Saturday night."

However, it could not be a better time to face Lille who are in the midst of an alarming slump in their domestic league.

The French northerners have won only once in their last nine league games and have been knocked back by late goals in several recent games.

Their set piece defending has also been poor with three of their last four goals conceded coming from set-plays.

"That´s starting to be a lot and maybe we need to starting asking ourselves some questions," midfielder Ludovic Obraniak told L´Equipe newspaper.

"If we want to get anywhere in Europe we can´t let ourselves get buried."

Despite their poor form, coach Claude Puel remains defiant and believes that his side simply are not getting their just rewards.

"Since the start of the year there is not one team that we haven´t dominated and that includes Lyon," he said.

However they will have to do without explosive attacking midfielder Kader Keita for the English side´s visit as he is suspended.

United, meanwhile, will welcome back English forward Wayne Rooney, who was suspended against Reading, and will almost certainly recall Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs and Rio Ferdinand - who all sat out the Reading match - and restore Paul Scholes, Patrice Evra and maybe Henrik Larsson to the starting line-up after they began the FA Cup match on the bench.

Larsson, who is more than halfway through his 10-week loan spell at United, said the Red Devils are entering the most crucial period of their season but believes they are well prepared to continue fighting on three fronts - the Premiership, Champions League and FA Cup.

"In training I look at the squad and see that anybody could start a game and United would be as strong as ever," he told his personal website.

"There has been a great process of bringing players through and buying intelligently at the club.

"We have a lot of games coming up now over the next couple of weeks, but we train well and prepare well, so there is no reason why we can´t take these games in our stride.

"Everybody is up for it and when you are playing well and enjoying the football you want to play every day."

United have a dreadful record in Europe´s knock-out phase since winning the crown in 1999.

Only once, in 2002 when they defeated Deportivo La Coruna 5-2 on aggregate, have they progressed through a knock-out round since their famous victory over Bayern Munich in Barcelona.

In 2000 and 2003 they lost to Real Madrid at the first knock-out stage, in 2001 Bayern denied them, in 2004 it was Porto, 2005 AC Milan and in 2002 Bayer Leverkusen halted them in the semi-finals.

But last year they hit a new low as they finished bottom of what was considered an easy group, that included Lille, and missed out altogether on the latter stages.