Rio set for San Siro start

Rio Ferdinand is set to make only his third start of 2010 on Tuesday night when United take on Milan in a mouthwatering Champions League tie.

In fact, Ferdinand has only made two appearances since his injury problems began in late October - his ill-fated return against Hull City on 23 January, from which he subsequently picked up a four-match ban, and the Carling Cup semi-final win over Manchester City.

Rio has missed half of the Champions League campaign so far - his last outing in Europe being away to CSKA Moscow on 21 October. But Sir Alex Ferguson feels his vastly experienced defender should return at the San Siro.

"We have to consider whether Rio will start tomorrow but I think he probably will," said Sir Alex, at Monday evening's pre-match press conference.

"We feel we've got to the bottom of the back problem. We certainly hope he'll be okay for the rest of the season. He's not missed a training session in the last six or seven weeks.

"We've worked really hard with him and he's worked very hard himself. He's now doing really well with his core work and we feel that will help him in the future."

With Nemanja Vidic still out, Ferdinand would pair up with Wes Brown or Jonny Evans at the heart of United's defence. The full squad in Milan is as follows: Van der Sar, Foster, Kuszczak; Neville, Brown, J Evans, Ferdinand, Fabio, Rafael, Evra; Valencia, Park, Nani, Obertan, Scholes, Fletcher, Carrick, Gibson; Rooney, Berbatov, Owen, Diouf