AS.com

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has indicated he may put out a different team against Real Madrid at Old Trafford next Tuesday to the side that played in the Bernabéu on 13 February.

Speaking to the club's official television channel MUTV, the Scot said: "The players sense it could be a big year for them. But at this club, in this situation, anything can happen on the run-in. Players can all of a sudden find themselves playing in a final or an important league game because that is the kind of squad I have."

Ferguson, who was in the Camp Nou on Tuesday to see Madrid beat Barcelona 3-1, admitted that some his players do not always react well to being left out of the starting line-up.

""It is very difficult to rotate the squad at the moment," he said.

"They all wanted to play against Real Madrid and there were a lot of disappointed players. That was fantastic. It is a measure of their own confidence in themselves."

However, he also spoke of the importance of having players in his squad who can cope with being left out and still give their all when they are called into action, recalling the attitude of Paul Scholes in the treble winning season of 1999.

"In 1999 I left Paul Scholes out of the [Champions League] quarter-final against Inter Milan yet he was the one who scored the goal that got us through.

"I left him out of the semi-final because I couldn't risk him and Roy Keane together as they were both on yellow cards. He accepted it graciously, came on, got booked and missed the final anyway. What did he do? He didn't let it affect him. He went on to become one of the greatest players this club has ever had."

Manchester United, currently 12 points clear at the top of the Premier League, host Norwich City on Saturday, and are likely to rest a number of players with the match against Madrid in mind.