Owen Hargreaves was the most notable absentee from the 21-man Manchester United squad which has set off for a four-match tour of Africa.Hargreaves spent most of last season battling against a knee injury, although he did play in the Champions League final win over Chelsea in Moscow.

However, after missing Saturday's friendly at Aberdeen, Hargreaves also remained behind on Thursday as Sir Alex Ferguson and his team set off on a tour that will take them to South Africa and Nigeria.

Also missing were Nani, Edwin van der Sar and Patrice Evra, who all played at Euro 2008, as did Cristiano Ronaldo, but the winger has already been ruled out due to an ankle operation.

However, the rest of United's squad, including Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Ryan Giggs, were on the flight to Cape Town, along with skipper Gary Neville, who was restricted to one first-team game last season due to an ankle problem but is now fully fit as United look to defend their European and Premier League trophies.

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