Nemanja Vidic backs Dimitar Berbatov to replace Wayne Rooney

Nemanja Vidic is convinced Dimitar Berbatov can replace the injured Wayne Rooney at the spearhead of Manchester United's attack. With Chelsea looming on Saturday and the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final with Bayern Munich following just four days later, Rooney will probablynot be fit for either. "We showed this season, we play as a team," said Vidic. "It is not just about one man. Definitely Wayne Rooney has had a great season. He is unbelievable, one of the best in the world. But sometimes big players are missing, and others need to be ready." As Michael Owen and Danny Welbeck are out for the season, unless Ferguson places all his trust in the unproven Federico Macheda and Mame Biram Diouf, the 'other' in this instance, will have to be Berbatov. Bought for a club record £30.75m in 2008, the former Tottenham Hotspur striker has struggled to win over his critics, largely due to his relaxed style of play. Yet United do have a decent record when Berbatov has started games for them and at both Wolverhampton Wanderers and Bolton Wanderers recently, the Bulgarian produced the kind of gritty performance Rooney has perfected in the lone striking role. "Dimitar had a great game against Bolton on Saturday. He is a great footballer," said Vidic. "He scored twice himself and can set up goals for other players as well. We have a good squad. We just need to believe in ourselves and believe in each other." On the European front at least, life would have been much less complicated had Bayern not scored the late goal that won them the tie. Vidic admitted the team had not played well. "We had all night to think about what went wrong," said Vidic. "It was not a great game for us. We should play better and we will need to play better against Chelsea. Sometimes when you lose a game and play badly you wake up and realise you need to improve. "I am not concerned. I was disappointed," added Vidic. "But 2-1 is not that bad a result bearing in mind we still have a game at home and I expect us to be stronger."