Rio Ferdinand could return to the starting line-up for United's Champions League clash at Chelsea after spending the last two months on the sidelines.

The defender, who has been battling a troublesome calf injury, has trained for the last week and was part of the group that took part in a session at Carrington on Tuesday morning ahead of the quarter-final first leg at Stamford Bridge.

Rafael, who injured a hamstring against Marseille, was also back in training, but there was no sign of Darren Fletcher (virus), John O'Shea (hamstring) and Wes Brown, who picked up a knock in the win over Bolton last month. Wayne Rooney was also missing.

Full training squad at Carrington: Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Amos; Rafael, Ferdinand, Evans, Smalling, Vidic, Evra, Fabio; Anderson, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs, Nani, Valencia, Park, Obertan; Owen, Berbatov, Hernandez