• Premier League

Ferguson and Rio settle differences

Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra will be rested for Manchester United's Champions League clash against Braga ahead of their match against Premier League leaders Chelsea at the weekend.

Ferguson also confirmed that he has resolved his differences with Ferdinand after expressing his anger that the defender did not wear a Kick It Out T-shirt before United's 4-2 win over Stoke on Saturday.

"I'm not playing Rio [on Tuesday]," Ferguson said. "We have a game on Sunday against Chelsea and it's a big one for us so I'm leaving a couple of players out.

"Rio and Patrice Evra are the older players - those are the two main changes. Other than that we've got a big squad.

"We've got Ashley Young back and he'll be involved. We've got Nani, [Antonio] Valencia, [Ryan] Giggs... plenty of wide players. Of course, we also have plenty of central midfield players. So I have an issue in terms of picking the team. Hopefully I get it right.

"Shinji Kagawa didn't play on Saturday so he can prepare for [Braga]. Also, Stoke's a different team to any other side he's played. But mainly it was to give him a rest before [Tuesday]."

Ferguson made it clear that his decision to leave Ferdinand out of the squad to face the Portuguese side had nothing to do with his act of rebellion on Saturday and stressed the situation had been resolved.

"I think there was a communication problem," Ferguson said. "I think he felt I should have spoken to him on the Friday and I obviously didn't anticipate I had any problem in the dressing room as far as wearing the T-shirt was concerned.

"My advice to him is that I always feel that a union is stronger than an individual and it's important that he airs his grievances to the right people - to the PFA and to the FA. It really has been a communication problem rather than anything else.

"Obviously as a manager of the club you lay down policy and you don't want to see it ignored and that's where my anger came on Saturday. But we have resolved the situation and we move on."

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