Tuesday's Quarter-final first leg preview

The battleground is set for the kings of Europe as the Quarter Finals of Champions League start on Tuesday . Current Champions United are favourites to win it once again . But they have still got a lot of task ahead of them . In the other match English giants Arsenal takes on Villa Real


Man Utd v Porto


United have recovered from their recent drop in form now and they will be delighted to have Nemanja Vidic, Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes all return having been suspended for the win over Aston Villa. Ji-Sung Park is also available again while Federico Macheda is in the squad. Memories of the Portuguese champions knocking United out at the last-16 stage in 2004 are still fresh in the memory for many Red Devils fans.

Then under the guidance of Jose Mourinho, Porto grabbed a last-minute goal to draw 1-1 at the Theatre of Dreams to seal a 3-2 aggregate win, sending the 'Special One' dancing down the touchline.

The Portuguese side went on to be crowned European champions that year but since then, this season is the first time they have progressed further than the first knockout round.

Vidic will be welcomed back with open arms after the United defence struggled to cope with the aerial threat of John Carew and Gabriel Agbonlahor on Sunday.

But his regular centre-back partner Rio Ferdinand, who also missed the Villa clash with a groin injury, has failed to recover in time and has been ruled out.Striker Dimitar Berbatov is also out after injuring his ankle in the 2-0 defeat to Fulham before the international break.Ferguson will wait until the last moment to decide on the fitness of veteran pair Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs, both of whom played the full 90 minutes on Sunday.


Porto defender Christian Sapunaru is a doubt after injuring his ankle at the weekend but he has still been selected in the 19-man squad.Midfielder Freddy Guarin is expected to start after he has recovered from a sprained ankle.Lisandro Lopez will also return after he was ruled out of Saturday's win over Guimaraes through suspension.But Porto will be without their captain Pedro Emanuel and Nelson Benitez with both injured. Jorge Fucile is also sidelined with injury while teenage ace Rabiola has been left out of the squad altogether.


Villarreal v Arsenal


Arsenal are at the top of their form in England . Their injury worries are over

Arsenal striker Robin van Persie has been ruled out of Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final first leg against Villarreal with a groin injury.

The 25-year-old picked up the problem on international duty with the Netherlands and missed Arsenal's 2-0 win over Manchester City on Saturday.

Samir Nasri (virus) and Theo Walcott (knee) have been passed fit.

But Eduardo (groin), Abou Diaby (thigh) and Tomas Rosicky remain sidelined and Andrey Arshavin is ineligible. Van Persie is Arsenal's top scorer this season with 16 goals and helped the Gunners reach the last eight with the only goal in their last 16 first leg against Roma and a spot kick during the penalty shoot-out in the second leg.

Villarreal have injury problems of their own, with Spain winger Santi Cazorla set to miss the remainder of the season.The influential 24-year-old fractured his fibula during his side's 3-0 defeat at Almeria.Ruben Gracia (thigh) is in coach Manuel Pellegrini's line-up, while Turkey striker Nihat Kahveci is back to full fitness, but midfielder Bruno Sorriano is out.