Mancini hopes to make peace with Ferguson over pizza

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RIO Ferdinand is in line for his first game in three months – tomorrow’s Carling Cup semi-final Manchester derby.

Manchester United’s much-missed centre-back will be joined for the crucial clash by Nemanja Vidic, who has been out for the past two weeks.

Sir Alex Ferguson aims to restore his first-choice defensive pairing for the first leg at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Ferdinand has not played since October 25, when United lost at Liverpool, as a persistent back problem forced a prolonged lay-off. United have lost five times in all competitions since.

Vidic pulled up with a leg injury in the warm-up before United’s embarrassing FA Cup KO by Leeds. He and Ferdinand are vital to United’s bid to win a fourth successive Premier League title, as well as the Champions League.

But the United boss doesn’t have any intention of surrendering local pride to City, whose momentum under Roberto Mancini was checked at Everton.

United quickly quelled a protest against their American owners during the Burnley match, Old Trafford stewards taking down a banner which read: “Love United, hate the Glazers.” Two fans were ejected.

After the match, a group of fans staged a peaceful but noisy demo against the Glazers and chief executive David Gill outside the directors’ entrance. Feelings are running high after a week in which the club revealed plans to raise £500m with a bond issue in a bid to tackle it’s enormous debt-interest payments.

Fans’ groups plan to boycott the visit of David Beckham and AC Milan. United last night issued a terse “not for sale” response to reports that a consortium in Qatar is trying to buy the club.

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Roberto Mancini watched Manchester City's last visit to Old Trafford, a 4-3 defeat last September, at his home in Bologna. Photograph: Michael Regan/Getty Images

Roberto Mancini has said he will offer Sir Alex Ferguson a special consolation prize should Manchester United fail to make the Carling Cup final. "Does Alex like pizza?" inquired Manchester City's new Italian manager as he prepared for the semi-final first leg against United at Eastlands. "If we win then, OK, I'll bring the pizza if he brings the wine – a really nice bottle."

This promise was made in extremely jocular vein but it remained unclear whether Mancini – who just last week extolled the virtues of pizza accompanied by a glass of wine as a pre-match meal for players – knows that United's manager has a certain history with dough-based Italian creations.

When someone mentioned "Pizza-Gate" – the notorious 2004 "battle of the buffet" when a tunnel scuffle between United and Arsenal's players and staff saw a slice of pizza hurled at Ferguson, hitting him on the mouth – Mancini merely smiled.

Such disarmingly beatific beams punctuated the former Internazionale coach's media briefing and even greeted the inevitable questions about Robinho. "I have respect for Robinho," he insisted. "He is a good man and a good player. I would like Robinho to always play well but it's not always possible."

If that was a diplomatic understatement the Brazilian could well be involved at some stage against United as Roque Santa Cruz will be sidelined for at least a month with recurring calf trouble. Slightly less worryingly Carlos Tevez – who should start and who Mancini, incidentally, once tried to buy for Inter – is nursing a slight hamstring strain.

"I think Santa Cruz is out for one month maybe," said Mancini, who hopes to have a newly-fit Stephen Ireland on the bench. "It's the calf, the second time in 20 days and it's a big problem for me."

Indeed the fitness doubts surrounding Santa Cruz and his co-strikers almost certaily dictate that Mancini will not be selling Robinho during this transfer window. Even if he wanted to offload him – or, perhaps more pertinently someone was willing to buy the out-of-sorts £32.5m forward – Mark Hughes's successor cannot afford to weaken his attacking department any further.

The recent arrival of Patrick Vieira has bolstered the midfield but the former Arsenal and Internazionale enforcer is not ready to face his old foes from United. "It's better that we don't risk Patrick," said Mancini. "Because when Patrick comes back in a week or 10 days I want him to play 20 games."

Despite the gloomy treatment-room bulletin, not to mention Mancini's first City defeat at Everton last Saturday, the Italian is not about to abandon his already-famous blue-and-white matchday accessory. "It continues," he said. "It is still a lucky scarf."

Forget City's defensive shortcomings and midfield vulnerabilities, maybe Hughes's failure to accessorise a series of expensive suits in similarly snazzily self-confident manner was what really prompted his undoing.

But would the scarf's magical powers be best deployed in cup or league arenas? "We want to win the Carling Cup, we want to win the FA Cup," said Mancini. "But we must arrive in the top four. That will change the situation for me and we work for this. I would like to win the Carling Cup because it's important for me but it has to be just the start. When you win a trophy then you change the club mentality."

It is certainly quite a departure from September and City's stoppage time 4-3 defeat at Old Trafford when Mancini watched Hughes's despair on televison in Italy. "I was in Bologna, in my house," said a man mentored by Sven-Goran Eriksson whose still rather rudimentary English merely succeeds in creating a certain mystique which seems to have survived the Everton defeat.

"I didn't think I would be the [City] manager in six months," he continued. "But I hoped that after one year or two years it would be possible because I would be happy to come to England and to City because City has a good future."

Might it see them eclipsing United. "If we work well then that is possible," said Mancini. "Why not?"

Much more of this and Sir Alex will be choking on that pizza.