Vida doubtful for Blues

Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Nemanja Vidic is a major doubt for Saturday's Premier League showdown at Chelsea.

The Serbian defender missed Wednesday night's draw in Barcelona with a stomach bug and, although he is on the road to recovery, Sir Alex is not hopeful of having Vidic available at Stamford Bridge.

"I think he’s doubtful, but we’ll do our best," the United manager told Sky Sports.

"He’s back at the hotel, he’s taking plenty of fluids, he had a bit of soup this afternoon for the first time in 36 hours – that’s promising, I suppose.

"Let’s hope we can get him there on Saturday morning – we’ve only got 72 hours to do that, but he’ll want to have a go. He’ll be desperate to play and if we do get him, it’ll be a bonus to us."

Wes Brown deputised in central defence against the Catalans, with Owen Hargreaves excelling as a makeshift right-back.

With Gerard Pique, John O'Shea, Gary Neville and Mikael Silvestre all fit, however, Sir Alex has no shortage of options if he opts to shuffle his pack.