Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson defended his team selection for last night's 3-2 Champions League win over Braga.

The manager disagreed with the interviewer's notion that playing Michael Carrick out of position at centre-back and handing a Champions League debut to Alexander Buttner were reasons behind Braga going 2-0 up early on.

"I think we did the right thing [to rest Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra]," replied Sir Alex.

"It wasn't Michael Carrick's fault for the first goal. He did his job well.

"I think you have to look at the big picture with Rio's age. We have a big game on Sunday against Chelsea, Chelsea on the Wednesday, Arsenal on the Saturday, we've a massive programme coming up now and it's important to utilise the squad we have.

"Okay, at the moment with Vidic out and Jones and Smalling not available, then putting Michael back there in defence is not the best but he does his job well."