Put pressure on Milan's golden oldies, says Fergie

On Tuesday night at Old Trafford Ferguson will no doubt hope that his two young match-winners can hustle AC Milan's venerable defender into Champions League retirement.

For those who have not heard, Maldini will be 39 in June. Tuesday's semi-final first leg will be his 104th Champions League appearance. He has lifted the trophy four times.

It is an astonishing record and one that Ferguson admires. A professional in every meaning of the word, Maldini is cut straight from the United manager's favourite cloth.

But, on a night when he could yet be deprived of every member of his firstchoice defence, Ferguson must pray that his own superstars can provide United with a goalscoring platform on which he can build.

Against Middlesbrough last Saturday evening, Rooney and Ronaldo failed to perform. Ronaldo, in particular, lacked his usual lustre as United toiled under the mental strain of this critical month of football. It cannot happen again tonight.

Ferguson said: "I think Paolo Maldini is my favourite player in European football of the last 15 years. I watched the Bayern Munich game in the last round and he played the whole 90 minutes without making a tackle!

"That's fantastic. To get through a game without making a tackle is an art. You cannot deny or argue with that type of experience.

"He's a great player and he will leave a legacy when he leaves the game that players like Wayne and Cristiano can follow and use as an example."

Maldini is the oldest member of a Milan defence that has only one man under the age of 30 and even he — Marek Jankulovski — will enter his fourth decade before next month's Champions League Final. That other Italian pin-up, Alessandro Nesta, is 31 while Massimo Oddo is 30.

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The opportunity for Ronaldo, in particular, to use his remarkable pace is clear but the responsibility on the young Portugal winger tonight will be enormous.

United will struggle to pass their way through a Milan rearguard that will be protected by the growling figure of Gennaro Gattuso.

This Italian team will defend more like the one that won the World Cup last summer — they only conceded two goals — than the Roma team that shipped seven at Old Trafford a fortnight ago.

Ferguson said: "We can't ignore the age of the Milan defence. That would be a mistake. But we respect their ability and we know this will be a difficult game for us.

"It's difficult to think that we can reach the standards we reached against Roma. That was a once-in-a-lifetime result but we still expect a very good performance.

"With the players we have there is always an expectation and there is always a desire to raise our level to match that of our opponents and do justice to the size of the occasion. We have match-winning players and that is important."

Ferguson oversaw a training session with just 13 players yesterday, two of whom were goalkeepers. None seemed to be wrapped in cotton wool but he must have thought about it.

On Monday night Ferguson was still sweating on Patrice Evra's fitness and was hopeful the Frenchman would be able to join a defence that will otherwise comprise Wes Brown, Gabriel Heinze and John O'Shea.

Despite Ferguson's suggestions to the contrary, Brown endured a difficult time against the physical presence of Middlesbrough's Mark Viduka and against Milan the central defender must find the extra level that his manager always insists he has.

"I think we are OK in terms of central defenders," insisted Ferguson, unconvincingly. "Wes Brown has done very well since taking over from Nemanja Vidic and the one thing you know about Wes is that he is a natural defender who will, perhaps, be helped by the big-game occasion.

"The injuries have come at a bad time for us but we have enough players. My main concern is that we may be a bit thin on the substitutes' bench.

"We are still not sure about Patrice Evra. He has done some training with us this morning but I haven't made a decision on him yet. Maybe he will be on the bench."

Ferguson's team news bulletins are so unreliable as often to be worthless but on this occasion there is no disguising the scale of his problems.

Having endured some good fortune with injuries this season, the floodgates have opened at just the wrong time.

Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti arrived in Manchester yesterday thanking United for the kind words spoken about them. But he also noted Ferguson's problems.

"They always speak well about us and we are grateful," said Ancelotti. "But the lack of Vidic and Ferdinand may make it difficult for Ferguson. It is not easy to use a new partnership in defence at this time."

Ferguson has always spoken of the need for experienced defenders in Europe. It is one of this favourite themes. On Tuesday night his young buccaneers will take on the most experienced in the business.

It is a mouthwatering prospect.