Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that the T-shirt row with Rio Ferdinand has been resolved, although the defender will play no part in Tuesday's Champions League clash with Braga.
The 33-year-old came under fire from his manager over the weekend for choosing not to wear a T-shirt supporting the 'Kick It Out' campaign without notifying his boss.
| MANCHESTER UNITED LATEST |
|
| 8/1 | Ashley Young is 8/1 with Bet365 to score the first goal in Man Utd v Braga |
But the 70-year-old has insisted that his reason for leaving Ferdinand out of the squad is purely for tactical purposes.
"I'm not playing Rio. I'm making a few changes. I'm leaving out Rio and Patrice Evra. We have a big game against Chelsea [to think about on Sunday]," he told reporters.
"We've got Ashley Young back and he'll be involved tomorrow. We've got Nani, [Antonio] Valencia, [Ryan] Giggs... plenty of wide players. I have an issue in terms of picking the team. Hopefully I get it right."
Regarding the T-shirt row, he added: "The issue's simple. I've spoken to Rio. It was a communication issue. He felt I should have spoken to him on Friday and I didn't anticipate that he'd have a problem wearing the shirt.
"My advice is to him is that I always feel a union is stronger than an individual. It's important he airs his grievances to the right people, the FA.
"It's been a communication issue more than anything else. We've resolved the situation, there's no lingering problems and we move on. That's the end of the matter."



