Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is expected to start Rio Ferdinand tonight at AC Milan.

Ferdinand has missed half of the Champions League campaign so far - his last outing in Europe being away to CSKA Moscow on 21 October. But Ferguson feels his vastly experienced defender should return at the San Siro.

"We have to consider whether Rio will start tomorrow but I think he probably will," said Sir Alex, at Monday evening's pre-match press conference.

"We feel we've got to the bottom of the back problem. We certainly hope he'll be okay for the rest of the season. He's not missed a training session in the last six or seven weeks.

"We've worked really hard with him and he's worked very hard himself. He's now doing really well with his core work and we feel that will help him in the future."