Football: Berg set to step into Pallister's boots

THOSE Manchester United players who had a fine view of the Alps as the team flew south to Nice yesterday may have considered a few footballing cliches about mountains and peaks.

The English champions' now perennial quest for the club game's highest honour begins anew here tomorrow when they meet Monaco in the European Cup quarter-final first-leg. United are confident, but wary. As Gianluca Vialli noted after their weekend victory over his Chelsea team: "You can play well for eight months but one bad performance and the Cup is gone."

United have not been scaling the peaks recently but they have been gradually rediscovering the form of autumn. Saturday showed their artisan side, an aspect which may need to be to the fore again tomorrow.

"I hope Saturday was a barometer to Wednesday night," the manager, Alex Ferguson, said yesterday. "We had to defend against clever players like Vialli and [Gianfranco] Zola. It was a guide to what we will face from Monaco."

The injured Ryan Giggs is definitely out and so is Gary Pallister, who has a back injury. "We wanted to have Gary here but he's not right," Ferguson said. With Monaco possessing exceptional pace in attack, notably in Thierry Henry and Victor Ikpeba, Ferguson will surely turn to Henning Berg.

Ikpeba scored twice in extra-time as Monaco beat Marseilles 2-0 in the cup at the weekend. Yet that competition is no more of a priority to Jean Tigana, the Monaco coach, than the English one was to Ferguson. David Trezeguet, Franck Dumas and John Collins were rested and Ali Benarbia and Henry on the bench. All should be fit tomorrow.

United's supporters began arriving yesterday, accompanied by a Football Association security official. The club have sold 2,200 tickets and a similar number of ticketless fans are expected to travel. Trouble is not expected, partly because there is no one here to fight.

Monaco's average gate is about 5,000 and their club shop is smaller than the burger vans on Sir Matt Busby Way. If it were not for the regal Grimaldi family's subsidy the club would be little bigger than Emley. As it is, they are meeting United on equal terms.

l The Manchester-based bookmaker Fred Done is paying out now to punters who backed United to win the Premiership, irrespective of who wins the title. Within hours, pounds 15,000 had been snapped up. Ladbrokes last night stopped taking bets on the title race.