London, Mar 29  : Manchester United ace player Gary Neville believes the key to the club's Champions League dream lies in the hands of defenders.

Rooney's devastating form has had defences from Moscow to Milan shaking. Yet it has been the foundations laid down by the Red Devils' miserly defence, which has set the platform for their glory bid.

Old Trafford fans are praying Rio Ferdinand is back for tomorrow's last-eight tie at Bayern Munich. The England skipper sat out the 4-0 win at Bolton on Saturday.

Neville knows how important Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic are in Europe and in the Premier League, The Sun reports.

"Our defensive unit will play a big part in the run-in. Having Nemanja and Rio available in central defence is a big plus for us, as is having Edwin van der Sar in goal. We have not had a solid defence all season because of injuries and keeping the spine of the team fit will be crucial towards the end," he said.

"Ferdinand and Vidic, in particular, are players we need because we don't concede a lot when they are together. We always feel we can score goals, we just have to make sure we don''t make defensive mistakes and concede," Neville said.

United have conceded just two goals in their last eight games.

And they received a massive boost ahead of the Germany trip with the news that Arjen Robben, Bayern's star performer this season, is a doubt due to a calf injury.

Neville added: "We are happy to have the second leg against Bayern at home. It worked well for us against AC Milan and our form at Old Trafford has been very good. (ANI)