Sir Alex Ferguson insists he still trusts Dimitar Berbatov.
The £30.75million Bulgarian was left on the bench for Manchester United's crunch Champions League clash with Bayern Munich and remained there until 10 minutes from time, even after Wayne Rooney had gone off and his side were slipping to a narrow quarter-final exit.
It has raised inevitable questions over Berbatov's Old Trafford future, even if United would have to take a massive loss on the club record fee it cost to sign the 29-year-old from Tottenham in 2008.
Yet Ferguson apparently has no concerns about Berbatov's overall contribution.
The striker is set to be included for Sunday's trip to Blackburn as Wayne Rooney misses out with an ankle injury, and the United manager is confident Berbatov will play a major role for the Red Devils, both this season and beyond.
"Yes, I still trust him," said Ferguson. "He is a good player and there is absolutely no reason why we should doubt that.
"Dimitar he has done well in a lot of games recently but we prefer to play with one striker.
"When we got the man sent off on Wednesday there was no need to bring a striker on because all we were trying to do was go over the line in terms of defending."
