Defender boost for United

Ronny Johnsen and Laurent Blanc have recovered from injury to boost Manchester United ahead of their Champions League semi-final showdown with Bayer Leverkusen.

Johnsen has been out for the last three weeks since damaging his hamstring in United’s quarter-final second leg win over Deportivo La Coruna.

Blanc returns after twisting his knee in last Wednesday’s 2-2 first-leg draw against Leverkusen at Old Trafford.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson also confirmed that all the players who sat out Saturday’s win at Ipswich with various minor knocks are fit.

Fabien Barthez, Juan Sebastian Veron, Mikael Silvestre, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, who all did not start at Portman Road, return.

Ferguson said: ‘‘Ronny Johnsen is back and everyone else is fit too.’’

United flew out to Germany this morning with a formidable squad and only long-term casualties Gary Neville and David Beckham were missing for the semi-final second leg in the BayArena.

United must repeat their heroics from Turin three years ago, when they beat Juventus 3-2 if they are going to make Ferguson’s dream final at Hampden Park become a reality after being held 2-2 last Wednesday.