PAUL SCHOLES has called for Manchester United to repeat their performance against Barcelona in last season’s Champions League semi-final as they seek to reach this season’s quarter-finals by overcoming Internazionale tomorrow.

Then, as now, they drew the first leg away 0-0 and went on to beat the Catalan side 1-0 at Old Trafford to book what turned out to be a night of glory at the Luzhniki Stadium last May.

“It probably was the perfect way to play a home leg after a goalless draw,” said Scholes.

“We did well to get the draw in the first place because Barcelona is such a tough place to go, then we defended really well and got the goal at home, which, in a European tie, was ideal. We will take that again on Wednesday.”

Another winning goal would be nice for Scholes, too, as he was the man who thundered home the strike that took United to Moscow. Not that he is too bothered. “Now and again I still score these big goals,” he said.

“It would be good, but whoever scores does not really matter as long as we get through.”

The sight of Scholes remaining on the bench at Fulham on Saturday hinted at a place in Alex Ferguson’s starting line-up tomorrow, with the same also true of Ryan Giggs, while the places of Dimitar Berbatov and Cristiano Ronaldo appeared assured.

Rio Ferdinand, though, limped off with an ankle injury at Craven Cottage and, although there have been positive vibes from United’s Carrington training complex, Ferguson will wait until later today before making an assessment of the England defender.

At least United have Jonny Evans, who was outstanding at San Siro, to come in, as he did for the first leg when Nemanja Vidic - who has again been linked with Milan – was suspended.

Inter’s captain, Javier Zanetti, says his team are ready for the “match of our lives” at Old Trafford, even if they have to field a reshuffled back four. The central defenders who started Saturday’s Serie A 2-0 win away to Genoa, Nicolas Burdisso and Marco Materazzi, will not travel to Manchester after sustaining injuries. However, the first-choice pair of Cristian Chivu and Walter Samuel could yet return in their place, after missing the initial 0-0 draw with United a fortnight ago.

Injuries apart, Zanetti felt Inter’s weekend trip was perfect preparation. “It was a great training session because Genoa play in a very similar way to Manchester,” he said.