Manchester United great Rio Ferdinand cannot understand why Michael Carrick started on the bench on Tuesday night.

The veteran midfielder replace Bastian Schweinsteiger in the 69th minute of the eventual 3-2 Champions League defeat at Wolfsburg which sent the Red Devils sprawling into the Europa League.

During the BT Sport coverage of the contest, Ferdinand questioned Louis van Gaal's decision to leave a player like Carrick sitting on the bench for such an important match.

"When you've got someone like Michael Carrick, he's my first man I put in that team," said Ferdinand.

"He's the one that makes them tick. He gets the ball from back to front, into the frontmen quickly.

"It baffles me to see the way he's sitting on the bench like this."