Fabrizio Ravanelli last night revealed that he almost joined Manchester United before he moved to Marseille from Middlesbrough.

Ravanelli made his claim as he returned to Old Trafford with Marseille for tonight's Champions League clash.

The Italian striker said the proposed transfer to United in 1997 failed because it became too complicated. But Ravanelli regrets the move never took place because he is full of admiration for the Treble winners.

"I had a chance when I was playing with Middlesbrough to go to Manchester United," he said. "But the transfer arrangements became very complicated and the Middlesbrough coach did not want me to go. He wanted me to stay and play in the first division.

"Manchester United are one of the greatest teams in the world and I have a lot of respect for them. It would have been wonderful to play for them.

"They are the club everyone dreams of playing for and even if you are on the bench you will still play because of their squad system.

"But instead Rolland Courbis came in and took me to Marseille and now I'm playing with another great team."

"They're fantastic because their game is so simple," Ravanelli said of United yesterday. "They never fiddle about with the ball. It's impossible to outpace them so we must try to slow the play down and then launch counter-attacks. The key to the match will be our ability to numb them."

Ravanelli is Marseille's joint-leading scorer with four goals and Courbis says he will partner former Everton striker Ibrahima Bakayoko up front.

Alex Ferguson, however, expects Marseille to play Bakayoko as a lone striker in a containing operation. "Marseille did that in Croatia and won 2-1," he said, "and I don't think there's any doubt they will do likewise against us. They know that if they come away from here with something they will still be top of the group going into their next game, which is at home. I think that will be their mentality. The most important thing for us is not to lose, but we're not going into the match in a negative way."

Ferguson shrugged off suggestions that he might be concerned about the number of cheap goals that the United defence has given away recently. "It's part of our nature and there are some things you can't change," he said. "By having that attacking flair we are vulnerable to some suicidal defending."

Robert Pires, Marseille's captain and most gifted creative player, may be the principal danger whenever United are caught on the break. Sebastien Perez, too, has proved more effective going forward in France than he did defending while he was at Blackburn.

Both sides have players missing through injuries, with United the worse hit. Roy Keane is resting his troublesome knee, Ryan Giggs has a hamstring problem and Gary Neville a groin strain. Raimond van der Gouw and Phil Neville will replace the ineligible Massimo Taibi and Mickael Silvestre in goal and defence. Marseille will be without Patrick Blondeau, their former Sheffield Wednesday defender, and a striker, Florian Maurice.

Clearly Ferguson will be looking to David Beckham to provide the sort of service which will bring out the best in his three strikers Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. If they are crowded out Paul Scholes could be United's match-winner with his late runs into scoring positions.

But United will miss Keane.

"He is the real boss," Ravanelli admitted. "His absence is a real blow for them and a little bonus for us."

Ravanelli is under no illusions about how formidable United have become since he left England two years ago and picked out Jaap Stam as one of their key players.

"We will be up against one of the strongest defenders in the world in Jaap Stam. He is a great player and someone I have a lot of respect for," he said.

Marseille, though, are not lacking in confidence and they top Group D following their wins over Sturm Graz and Croatia Zagreb.

Ravanelli has fond memories of Old Trafford as he scored on his only appearance back in 1997 when Middlesbrough drew 3-3 with United.

"I also hit the post and then I got injured and had to go off," he added. I remember the atmosphere was tremendous and when they got a corner you would have thought they had scored."

However, against a revived Marseille side this is unlikely to be easy for a weakened United.