Rio trains in semi-final squad

04/05/2009 10:34, Report by G Thompson, A Bostock

Two senior defenders missed United's training session on Monday morning - but Rio Ferdinand wasn't one of the absentees.



The central defender now seems set to fulfil Sir Alex Ferguson's hope that he'll be "alright for Tuesday." Rio had been visited by the club doctor as he recovered from the lung bruising he suffered in the Champions League semi-final first leg clash against Arsenal.



Wes Brown and Patrice Evra were the pair who missed training. Brown had been touted for a comeback on the bench at Middlesbrough on Saturday but as it turned out, he wasn't named among the seven substitutes. Evra did play at the Riverside Stadium and was on the receiving end of some robust challenges; however Sir Alex Ferguson told MUTV in his post-match interview: "Patrice got a knock but I don’t think it’s anything serious."



Sir Alex Ferguson opted to hold United's pre-match training session at Carrington rather than the Emirates Stadium on the eve of Tuesday's second-leg clash.



The Reds travel down to London early on Monday afternoon, and more team news will follow when Sir Alex conducts his press conference in the capital at 17:00 BST.



The players training at Carrington were as follows: Van der Sar, Foster, Kuszczak; Neville, Rafael, Eckersley, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evans; Ronaldo, Anderson, Giggs, Park, Carrick, Nani, Scholes, Fletcher, Gibson; Berbatov, Rooney, Tevez, Welbeck, Macheda