Sir Alex Ferguson saw red here last night and angrily cut short his Champions League press conference. The Manchester United manager was riled by a question about being charged with improper conduct by the FA over his verbal attack on Alan Wiley, the referee.

“Silly question, gets no answer,” Ferguson said. “I’m at a press conference for a game tomorrow. I’m hear to talk about that. Good night.” The United manager then left the room.

Earlier, Ferguson had, indeed, seemed happy to discuss his side’s Champions League match away to CSKA Moscow this evening. It is a favourite cliché of managers to stress that the next game is always the most important. However, whichever way Ferguson might try to spin it, it was hard to escape the feeling that this game happens to be a minor inconvenience before a seismic showdown at Anfield on Sunday.

With wins from their two opening games in group B and home fixtures against CSKA and Besiktas to follow, Ferguson could probably afford to rest several of his best players, even if he did not have a tough assignment against Liverpool in the Barclays Premier League to consider.

Certainly, the low-key atmosphere in Moscow this week could not have contrasted more starkly with the one generated the last time United were at the Luzhniki Stadium, 17 months ago, for the first all-English European Cup final against Chelsea.

On that occasion, about 40,000 United supporters flooded the city to watch their team win on penalties. Fewer than 500 are thought to have opted to make the four-hour plane journey this time around, perhaps mindful that Ferguson was always going to ring the changes given his team’s relative strength at the top of the group and with Liverpool looming.

Indeed, Ferguson’s mind appeared to be elsewhere, preoccupied with thoughts about the welfare of an injured quintet of players he left behind before the visit to Anfield.

Liverpool may be all over the place and struggling with injury worries of their own, but whether or not it was an attempt by Ferguson to lull Rafael Benítez into a false sense of security, the Merseyside club’s manager will have been heartened to hear that Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Darren Fletcher and Park Ji Sung are facing a race to be fit for the weekend, although Patrice Evra, the left back, is expected to be available.

Rooney’s absence, in particular, would be keenly felt, with the England forward hampered by a calf strain, although given the impressive contributions of Giggs and Fletcher, the midfield players, this season and the attacking impetus Evra gives United, the champions can probably ill afford to be without any of them.

“There will be changes on Sunday \,” Ferguson said. “I’m hoping Rooney, Giggs and Fletcher will be fit. It’s difficult to say with Giggs \, but we are fighting to get Rooney ready. It may be an uphill fight, but we are trying. Fletcher is a slight doubt \ but we are hoping to get the main players fit because it is a big game. Park is a couple of weeks away but Evra will be fit.”

United’s main obstacle this evening will probably not be a CSKA team who have lost eight of their 25 league matches this season but the Luzhniki’s artificial pitch, which was so slippy last night that Juande Ramos, the former Tottenham Hotspur and Real Madrid head coach now in charge of the Russian club, had to call for a change of footwear during training after falling on his backside.

Ferguson may hand a rare start to Danny Welbeck or Federico Macheda, particularly if he decides to rest Dimitar Berbatov, while Wes Brown could come into defence, with CSKA eager to exploit a weakened team.

“We are in fighting mood — United are experienced, but they have weak points,” Sergei Ignashevich, the CSKA defender, said. “They are less confident away from home. Aside from home support, we have another advantage as we are playing on artificial turf.

“Several United players played on this pitch against Russia for England and they know how different it is. We are used to it but the ball will be slick and bounce off the surface quicker than normal.”