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MILAN - MANCHESTER United manager Sir Alex Ferguson jokingly said on Monday that his defensive crisis had left him panicking ahead of Tuesday's Champions League clash at Inter Milan.
Ferguson's backline headache is even more severe than first thought with teenage Brazilian right-back Rafael Da Silva the latest player to be ruled out with an ankle injury.
Veteran Gary Neville and Wes Brown are already on the treatment table while Nemanja Vidic is suspended and both Jonny Evans and John O'Shea are rated as highly doubtful for the game.
Finding a central defensive partner for Rio Ferdinand is Ferguson's biggest concern although he revealed that Rafael's twin brother Fabio could switch from his usual left-back slot to fill in the gap on the right.
'The options are: panic. I think I can play Dimitar (Berbatov) as sweeper,' joked Fergie. 'I hope one of them (Evans and O'Shea) will make it. O'Shea might, then we have the problem at right-back.' Earlier in the day Inter coach Jose Mourinho had said he believes United will come to defend and settle for a draw, but Fergie dismissed any notion of that.
'I'm sure Jose has seen us enough to know that we very seldom go into a game not trying to win and that won't change tomorrrow,' said the United boss.
'I wish we were in a better position tomorrow defensively in terms of availability but that happens in football, we have to carry on with the competition tomorrow.
'We still have the opportunity to take Inter back to Old Trafford with a good result. If we score an away goal it will giver us a great chance.
One of those players Ferguson is hoping will hit form is striker Berbatov, who revealed that it was to play in exactly this type of game that he made the switch from Tottenham in the summer.
'That's why I came here, to win the Champions League. I think we will be capable of doing that again,' he said. 'We have the team, the players, obviously we're facing a very good team tomorrow who have good players, as do we. -- AFP
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