We have made it a bit more difficult: Ferdinand

Pitted in arguably the weakest of the eight Champions League groups, Manchester United is surprisingly facing a real battle to qualify for the knockout stage heading into back-to-back matches against unknown quantity Otelul Galati of Romania.

United, which has won Europe's biggest prize three times and was beaten by Barcelona in last season's final at Wembley, opened up this year's competition with draws against Benfica and Basel, leaving the English champions third in Group C after two games.

The pressure is now on Alex Ferguson's men to start picking up wins if they are to avoid a nail-biting last couple of matchdays. They'll be fully expected to do just that in the double-header against Otelul, which is yet to earn a point in its debut season in the Champions League.

"We have made it a little bit more difficult than we would have liked, with two draws in our first two games," United and England defender Rio Ferdinand said. "But we don't go away from home in any game with the intention of drawing. We want to win. This is no different.

"We will take nothing for granted but whoever plays, we should be confident of going out there getting a positive result."

With Barcelona, AC Milan and Inter Milan grabbing victories in matchday two, United is the heavyweight in most danger of misisng out on qualification.

For that reason, manager Alex Ferguson is likely to pick his big names for Tuesday's trip to Romania's national stadium Bucharest, where Otelul is playing its home matches — 150 miles away from its own ground in Galati.

That would mean a recall to the team for Wayne Rooney, who missed Saturday's 1-1 draw at Liverpool in the Premier League because Ferguson said the striker was "devastated" at being suspended for the first three matches of the 2012 European Championship following a recent red card on England duty.

Fellow striker Javier Hernandez and Portugal winger Nani could also return along with fit-again captain Nemanja Vidic.

Basel and Benfica, who both have four points, meet in Switzerland in the group's other match.

While United's pool could go down to the wire, Group H containing Barcelona and AC Milan could well be wrapped up with two matches remaining.

Barcelona has a double-header coming up against Viktoria Plzen, starting with a home match Wednesday, and Milan plays BATE Borisov back to back. Two straight wins for established powers, who both currently have four points, will guarantee them a top-two finish.

Argentina forward Lionel Messi continued his free-scoring form for Barca with a double in a 3-0 win over Racing Santander at the weekend, taking his overall tally this season to 16 goals in 12 games.

However, coach Pep Guardiola is without center back Gerard Pique, Cesc Fabregas, Alexis Sanchez and Ibrahim Afellay, who are all out with leg injuries.

"In the next two games, we have a great opportunity to qualify," Guardiola said.

Real Madrid hosts Lyon in a match between the top two sides in Group D, with the Spanish giants looking to maintain its perfect start to pool play.

Similarly in Group A, leader Bayern Munich is bidding Tuesday for a third straight victory when it takes on Napoli, which is two points behind in second. Manchester City, which took over from rival United at the top of the Premier League this weekend, has just one point so far but will get back in the race for qualification with a victory at home to Villarreal.

In Tuesday's other matches, surprise Group B leader Trabzonspor of Turkey visits CSKA Moscow while Lille hosts 2010 winner Inter Milan, which is second in the pool.

Marseille puts its 100 percent record on the line against second-place Arsenal in Group F, where Olympiakos hosts Borussia Dortmund.

Chelsea, which is top of Group E with four points from a possible six, will expect to beat struggling Genk at home, while Bayer Leverkusen hosts Valencia in a match between the teams set to fight it out for second place in the pool.

In Group G, leader Apoel Nicosia travels to Porto while Shakhtar Donetsk is at home to Zenit St. Petersburg.

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