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• United's goalkeeper believes the club can recover
• Dimitar Berbatov is left as first-choice striker

Edwin van der Sar is convinced that Manchester United can win without Wayne Rooney. The club face an anxious wait to discover the extent of the ankle injury that Rooney suffered in the final minute of last night's 2-1 defeat to Bayern Munich.

Manchester United's manager claimed the injury to the striker was "not too serious" after the game yet even in the best-case scenario, it seems improbable that Rooney will be fit for Saturday's Premier League game with Chelsea at Old Trafford or for the must-win return leg against Bayern four days later.

Yet Van der Sar, whose man-of-the-match display ensured United still have hope of reaching the semi-finals, insists they can cope.

"Against Bolton we also played with some other players," he said. "It can happen in the season. You always want your best players available but we know the players coming in can also do a good job."

In the short-term, Ferguson is expected to use Dimitar Berbatov at the head of his strike-force, as he did at Bolton Wanderers on Saturday and Wolverhampton Wanderers a couple of weeks earlier, and retain the same formation that has proved so successful this season.

Should Rooney's injury stretch on, United will be forced to rely on Federico Macheda and Mama Biram Diouf, with Michael Owen and Danny Welbeck already out with calf and knee injuries. Neither Macheda nor Diouf have been tested at the highest level and neither made the bench last night.

Ferguson does have the option of deploying Ryan Giggs in a more advanced role, while Nani, Park Ji-Sung and Antonio Valencia have good attacking instincts. However, none of the latter three have been used as a senior striker, in the way Cristiano Ronaldo was used last season.

Park himself is optimistic that United can beat Bayern when they travel to Old Trafford and pointed to the fact his side had taken an early lead away from home, despite conceding twice.

"We are disappointed because we were leading," he said. "The early goal was good for us but we weren't able to build on it and get the result. But we have our chance to go through at Old Trafford.

"Bayern have an experienced team, and the club has a proud history. They did well but the situation will be different at Old Trafford. We're waiting for them to come there."

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