Rio Ferdinand strongly defended by Alex Ferguson

He may not be playing in tonight's Champions League clash between Manchester United and CSKA Moscow at Old Trafford due to a calf injury, but the name on everyone's lips at yesterday's pre-match press conference was Rio Ferdinand's. The form of the England centre back has dipped in recent weeks, as he has made glaring high-profile errors for both club and country, so his manager Alex Ferguson decided yesterday to grab the bull by the horns and confront the issue.

"There's no discernible depreciation in Rio's qualities, none for me at all," said Ferguson. "In my time here we've always had the situation where one of the star players hits a little blip. Rio is going to get criticism but that's part and parcel of being a Manchester United player and we are all aware of that. With Rio it's quite simple. No one likes to be criticised. They all like to be loved and have arms round their shoulders at times but he will come out of it, there is no doubt at all about that."

At the weekend, the former England manager Graham Taylor claimed that Ferdinand had "lost his legs", much to the annoyance of the Manchester United boss. Ferguson accused some in the media last week of trying to "humiliate" the England international, but he is aware that after such incidents as Fernando Torres' goal for Liverpool nine days ago, when the Spaniard brushed off Ferdinand on his way to scoring the opener, he had to acknowledge the situation.

Pointing out the string of injuries that the 30-year-old defender had faced in recent months, the Scot displayed an admirable loyalty to Ferdinand: "Playing with injuries is not the easiest thing to do. But of course we will try to get that right for Rio. Calf injuries can be troublesome and, if you don't arrest them and give them their proper treatment, you can end up the way we are just now with players playing games when they are not 100 per cent fit."

Ferguson is likely to persist with the central defensive partnership of Jonny Evans and Wes Brown tonight for a game that Manchester United will start as strong favourites, a win in which will see them qualify from the group stages of the competition with two games to spare. Evans and Brown registered Man Utd's first clean sheet in a month against Blackburn on Saturday, and have the obvious confidence of the manager.

"We are very fortunate to have two players like Brown and Evans," Ferguson said. "They are top defenders. The big plus is Wes. When we bring him in, there is no better defender in the country. He is a real, true defender and I have no worries about Sunday [when United face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League] in terms of Brown and Evans - absolutely no worries at all."

Michael Owen could play from the beginning tonight after the birth yesterday of Wayne Rooney's first child. The striker dismissed recent talk of a return to international colours, saying: "England is something I don't really think about. The last squad I was in was over a year ago now. I have played for England 89 times and would love to play again. I go to bed thinking that I have got to play well the next day and win games for United, not that if I score or play well I might get picked for England."