Manchester United defender Gary Neville will take a big stride towards an international return when he lines up for his club's reserves against Liverpool today.

The experienced full-back has not made a senior appearance since limping off against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League semi-final in April with a broken bone in his foot, mirroring that of his team mate and friend David Beckham.

Neville's injury took much longer to heal however and he was subsequently ruled out of the World Cup finals and after weeks of rest the problem still remained. He eventually needed surgery to reset a metatarsal, which put his comeback on hold for a further three months.

Neville is now ready to return to competitive action and look to regain his place in both the Manchester United and England teams.

Since his injury, competition for the right-back berth in the national side has hotted up considerably, with the emergence of Danny Mills and Owen Hargreaves as more than suitable replacements.

Mills had a good World Cup and performed well against Portugal at Villa Park earlier this month. Utility man Hargreaves has played in a number of positions for both Bayern Munich and England and the young man with plenty of experience seldom lets either down.

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