Dan Rookwood 

United step off the sick-bed for Bayer

Manchester United will be able to name a strong squad for tomorrow night's crucial Champions League semi-final decider with Bayer Leverkusen with the return from injury of several key players.
  
  


Manchester United will be able to name a strong squad for tomorrow night's crucial Champions League semi-final decider with Bayer Leverkusen with the return from injury of several key players.

Ronny Johnsen and Laurent Blanc have both recovered from strains to shore up a defence which conceded two vital goals at home in the first leg, the game finishing 2-2.

Fabien Barthez, Juan Sebastian Veron, Mikael Silvestre, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, who all did not start at Ipswich on Saturday will also return.

Manager Alex Ferguson said: "Ronny Johnsen is back and everyone else is fit too."

"It's a big challenge for us," he told Sky Sports. "We didn't play as well as we can (in the first leg) but I think we'll play much better tomorrow. There'll be a terrific atmosphere and it will be a marvellous occasion."

However, there are a number of United players on a yellow card going into tomorrow's match, chief among them captain Roy Keane who was famously suspended for the final in 1999 when United came from behind in the dying minutes to beat Bayern Munich.

"Roy won't even think about it - and we have three other players on yellow cards as well, Laurent Blanc, Nicky Butt and Ruud van Nistelrooy," said Ferguson.

"In a situation like this you have to get on and play the best you can, and hope that you have a referee who understands what missing a final would mean - and when I say that, I am thinking about both sides.

"There is a lot at stake on Tuesday and I hope the referee understands that. It would be tragic if Roy Keane were to miss out again."

Keane will not want to repeat the agony of 1999, but he is calling for his team to repeat the performance from Turin three years ago, when they beat Juventus 3-2 to make the final.

"It's only half-time as they say and we now need to produce a performance like we did in Turin against Juventus in '99," Keane said.

"It's the same kind of scenario to Turin in '99. We were fairly outplayed against Juve three years ago at Old Trafford.

"But we got a draw in the end and then won in Italy. Fingers crossed we can do it again. It will be a test of character, but the players are more than capable of doing it."

 

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