United leave Rio, Giggs and Evans out of Marseille squad

Posted Wednesday, February 23, 2011 by

Manchester United were without several senior players including Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs as they flew out to Marseille for tomorrow's Champions League match.

Ferdinand has not played since injuring a calf before United's Premier League defeat at Wolves on February 5, and his fellow central defender Jonny Evans also missed the trip this morning, having been battling an ankle problem.

That meant Chris Smalling was in line to start alongside Nemanja Vidic in the heart of the United back four against the French giants.

Veteran midfielder Giggs was another absentee from the United party, which was also missing Michael Owen, who has a groin injury.

United midfielder Anderson was a non-traveller and could be facing a lengthy absence from the side after being substituted at half-time in Saturday's FA Cup fifth-round win over Crawley.

He reportedly suffered a knee injury which will need further examination before United can be sure how long he will be absent for.

However United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was able to include Brazilian twins Rafael and Fabio, despite the pair both coming off with injuries during the Crawley match, while youngsters Joshua King and Ryan Tunnicliffe were also selected, along with Gabriel Obertan and Bebe.

Squad: Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Lindegaard;, Vidic, O'Shea, Brown, Rafael, Fabio, Evra, Smalling, Scholes, Gibson, Nani, Carrick, Fletcher, Bebe, Obertan, Tunnicliffe, Rooney, Berbatov, Hernandez, King.