Celta Vigo to have almost fully-fit squad for Manchester United as injured keeper returns

Celta Vigo manager Eduardo Berizzo is expected to deploy his strongest line-up when Manchester United visit Balaidos on Thursday night (4 May) as the Argentine boss has almost a fully-fit squad to for the first leg of the Europa League semi-finals.

Former Manchester United forward Giuseppe Rossi is the only confirmed absentee after the American-born Italian suffered a serious injury in left knee last month.

But goalkeeper Ruben Blanco and former Barcelona academy defender Carles Planas could be available having recovered from their respective injuries just in time for the crucial Europa League encounter.

Ruben battled for the number one role with Sergio Alvarez during the first part of the season, making 15 appearances as a starter, including four in the Europa League. However, the 21-year-old promising keeper has been out of action during the last two months due to an injury.

Meanwhile, left-back Planas has missed the last two La Liga games due to a knee problem.

Celta have now confirmed a double boost ahead of the visit of Manchester United, with Ruben given the green light by the doctors to return to action and Planas returning to training with the rest of his available teammates.

The situation is thus completely different to the United treatment room as Jose Mourinho has a number of injuries to key players in the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marcos Rojo, Chris Smalling or Phil Jones.

One way or another both Ruben and the former Barcelona defender are expected to begin the game against United on the bench as Berizzo has plenty of options to select from.

In this sense, the Argentine boss gave a strong indication of his plans on weekend after resting much of his key players during the Galician's 3-0 defeat to Athletic Club Bilbao.

This way, barring any last-minute fitness concerns, reports in Spain suggests that Berizzo's 4-3-3 line-up to face United should be formed by Sergio Avarez; Hugo Mallo, Gustavo Cabral, Andreu Fontás Jonny Castro; Nemanja Radoja, Pablo Hernández and Daniel Wass; Iago Aspas, John Guidetti and Pione Sisto.

Furthermore, most of them should be fresh as only Sergio, Fontas and Wasss made the starting line-up during the weekend's defeat to Athletic.