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Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Wayne Rooney will start for Manchester United in their Champions League clash against Romanian side Otelul Galati.
The England international was named as a substitute for Saturday's 1-1 draw at Liverpool after being handed a three-match suspension by UEFA following his red card in the Euro 2025 qualifier against Montenegro earlier this month.
Unless the FA decide to appeal against the ban, Rooney will miss all three of England's group games at next summer's European Championships, that are being held in Poland and Ukraine.
United are currently third in Group C ahead of the clash in Romania after drawing their first two matches - against Benfica and FC Basel.
They are13/2to beat Otelul Galati 3-0 and7/1to edge the game 2-1. Rooney is5/2to open the scoring in the match, while United can be backed at7/1to win the Champions League.
When asked about Rooney, Ferguson replied: "He'll be playing.
"When the initial news came through it was a definite blow for him. He didn't expect that. None of us did.
"It was a silly action but it wasn't seriously dangerous. When he realised getting a three-match ban meant missing all the games for England and he might not be involved at all - it is not easy to qualify in major championships - that resonated in Wayne's mind.
"But actually, when he came on (at Liverpool) he was quite bubbly. He was full of energy and enthusiasm."
Nemanja Vidic is set for his first outing since picking up a calf injury at West Brom on the opening day of the season which means Rio Ferdinand has been left out of the squad along with injured duo Tom Cleverley and Rafael.
Dimitar Berbatov, who also missed the Anfield contest, is included in the squad while Phil Jones has recovered from a knock he picked up on Saturday.
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