Kleberson in frame to face Magpies

World Cup winner Kleberson could have put himself in the frame for Manchester United’s game against Newcastle on Saturday.

In front of manager Sir Alex Ferguson, the Brazil midfielder looked mobile and athletic in his first appearance last night despite the reserves losing 2-0 to Blackburn.

More importantly he got through the full 90 minutes at Altrincham without any apparent problems with his fitness and, with Nicky Butt limping off the field in England’s 3-1 win over Croatia last night, there appears to be an opening for him.

The £6m (€8.6m) buy from Atletico Paranaense was thrilled to get a game under his belt in England.

“It has been very good for me to come out and join the group and pull on the red shirt of Manchester United,” he told MUTV.

“I am absolutely delighted. The game was played at a pace I wanted and I got a lot of the ball.

“The pitch was great – it was quite fast – and I managed to do everything I wanted to do.”

England defender Gary Neville could also come into contention for the game at Newcastle after a 64-minute run-out.

He had only returned from a broken foot when he suffered a torn hamstring against Celtic in the first game of United’s American tour.

Neville was running freely for the reserves when he was replaced by Philip Bardsley.

The appearance of Kleberson attracted of a crowd of about 1,000 to the home of the Unibond League club.

He almost put United ahead in the 25th minute with a fierce 20-yard shot that forced goalkeeper David Yelldell to make a full-length save.

But with manager Graeme Souness looking on, Blackburn secured the points thanks to goals from Ciaran Donnelly and Egil Ostenstad.