United boss Sir Alex Ferguson will have been frustrated by his side's wastefulness, with Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo guilty of throwing away obvious openings.

Sir Alex Ferguson is confident Rio Ferdinand will see out the prime of his career at Manchester United and says he could well make captain in the near future.

The defender, who was recently named in the FIFPro team of the year, has been at the heart of United's defence since signing for the club from Leeds for £29.1million fee in the summer of 2002.

Ronaldo might be benched against Celtic as Carlos Tevez and Anderson are back in contention after missing Saturday's 4-0 win over West Bromwich Albion.

Paul Scholes, Owen Hargreaves and Michael Carrick miss out of course and they are joined in the stands by Patrice Evra who was taken off with a hamstring injury against West Brom and won't be risked tomorrow night.

Stand-in captain Rio Ferdinand believes England will be halfway to the World Cup if they can defeat Belarus on Wednesday.

The Manchester United star told the Daily Express: "If we can win in Belarus, then it will feel like we're halfway there because we've got a long way to go until the next game after this one.

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Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand said he was happy with his side’s evening’s work after they defeated Aalborg BK 3-0 in the Champions League.

Ferdinand stated that paying their opponents a lot of respect was the key to securing victory.

Rio Ferdinand will escape disciplinary action following his tantrum at the end of Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea, despite gesturing and shouting angrily as he stormed into the tunnel.

The England defender, who had already been booked for dissent, appeared unhappy with the performance of referee Mike Riley as he left the pitch following a challenge with Didier Drogba.

Sir Alex Ferguson has backed his Manchester United side to bounce back from their Premier League defeat at Liverpool.

Rio Ferdinand is travelling to Croatia with the rest of the England squad. Ferdinand missed Saturday's opening World Cup qualifier with Andorra because of a neck injury.

Coach Fabio Capello stated last week that the Manchester United stopper would be fit for the trip to Zagreb and that appears to be the case.

England's preparations for the start of their World Cup qualifying campaign were descending into chaos last night when it emerged that Rio Ferdinand could miss the games against Andorra and Croatia.

The Manchester United defender has been struggling with a back injury that is sure to rule him out of this evening's game here.