Of the Old Trafford club’s Worthington Cup final line-up, only Ryan Giggs will face Deportivo La Coruna in their final Champions League group game and the Welshman only made the trip because of Quinton Fortune’s continuing injury problems.

With United through to the last eight as Group D winners and Deportivo already eliminated, the game appears to have ‘meaningless’ stamped all over it.

Ferguson thinks differently though as he is looking to see if the likes of Jimmy Davis, Mark Lynch and Lee Roche can rise to the occasion as Scottish midfielder Darren Fletcher did so memorably on his debut against FC Basle last week.

“Although a lot of my players don’t have too much experience they do have ability,” said Ferguson.

“I always feel young players are capable of surprising you when they get an opportunity. They feel they have a chance of becoming good players at Manchester United and hopefully some of them will do that tonight.”

It is eight years since Ferguson fielded a then untested trio of David Beckham, Gary Neville and Nicky Butt in an Old Trafford Champions League group encounter with Galatasaray after United’s exit from the competition had been confirmed.

All three have gone on to become top-class international players and Fletcher suggested he would follow suit with an impressive debut last week which has almost certainly earned him another starting berth tonight.

Danny Pugh will fancy his chances of getting his first European start, while Ferguson must decide whether to offer Kieran Richardson another chance so soon after his disappointing performance against Christian Gross’ Swiss outfit.

With Laurent Blanc, Butt and Phil Neville among the travelling party, United do have a core of experience to call on, although Ferguson admits it is the young players he will be monitoring most closely, particularly as the standard of opposition is far greater than they would experience in their normal League Cup breeding ground.

“It doesn’t matter what first team game it is, you are always asking questions of a young player when you put them in,” he said.

“But there is a massive difference between the European Cup and the League Cup, particularly in the tactical and technical part of the game.

“We will try to strike a balance between youth and experience but I shall be very interested to see how the young players go.”

Ferguson has already promised Spanish keeper Ricardo his third Champions League start as a replacement for the rested Fabien Barthez.

The arrival from Real Valladolid has not been able to put too much pressure on Barthez since his summer move from Spain but he hopes a return to his native land can prove to be an inspiration.

“It is an opportunity to establish myself, not only in the team but also with the fans,” he said.

“I don’t feel any extra pressure because the match is in Spain. Touching down at the airport just made my heart beat faster.

“A lot of my friends and family will be there so I want to do well for them.”

But for all the talk of youngsters and rare opportunities for experienced players, the burning topic is United’s revived interest in the Premiership title race.

From finding themselves eight points adrift of Arsenal at the start of the month, United could rise to the top of the table with a win over Fulham on Saturday, a match which comes 24 hours before the Gunners entertain resurgent Everton.

After claiming Arsene Wenger and his team were becoming over-confident, then stating their packed fixture list could start to take its toll on their players’ fitness, Ferguson appears to have taken on the role of a clairvoyant.

And he admitted that the combination of Arsenal’s defeat at Blackburn and his own side’s victory at Aston Villa caused a minor rethink over his European preparations.

“I was going to make changes anyway but maybe not as many,” he admitted.

“Given the results at the weekend, it would be silly for us not to take the opportunity of preparing a team for tonight’s game and another one for Fulham.

“What happened on Saturday only proves the vagaries of football. Anything can happen. We realise there is a long way to go. There are eight matches all fraught with some difficulty or other.

“We just have to keep our concentration and see where it takes us.”