Manchester Uniteds hopes of an unprecedented second treble
have been dealt a significant blow after it emerged yesterday that
Gary Neville, the club captain, could be out of action for up to
another six weeks because of injury.
Neville is expected to miss the whole of next month and faces a
race to be fit in time for the potential Barclays Premiership title
decider against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on May 9. It is not
clear whether Neville has suffered a setback in his recovery from
ankle ligament damage that he suffered in the 4-1 victory at home
to Bolton Wanderers ten days ago or whether Uniteds initial
suggestion that he would be sidelined for three weeks was
optimistic.
Certainly, the England defenders absence will be keenly felt.
Neville is understood to be hopeful of regaining full fitness by
the time United visit Stamford Bridge in their rearranged
Premiership fixture their penultimate and possibly decisive
league game of the season but assuming he does not return before
then, Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, will be without his
captain for as many as 11 matches.
Key among those are the FA Cup semi-final against Watford at Villa
Park on April 14, both legs of the Champions League quarter-final
against AS Roma next Wednesday and April 10 and, perhaps most
significantly, should United overcome the Italian team, both legs
of the semi-final against the winners of the AC Milan-Bayern Munich
tie, on April 24 and May 2.
Neville left the field only seven minutes into Uniteds game
against Bolton after a challenge by Gary Speed and the defender was
still limping heavily yesterday. The injury is an untimely blow for
Ferguson, who already has to do without Mikaël Silves-tre, the
France defender, for the rest of the season because of a dislocated
shoulder, and underlines why the manager has told fringe players
such as Wes Brown, Gabriel Heinze and John OShea that they will be
the most important players at the club during the run-in.
On a positive note for Ferguson, his striking options are
expected to improve in the league match at home to Blackburn Rovers
on Saturday, with Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer back in
contention after injury.
His first-choice goalkeeper, Edwin van der Sar, who has been passed
fit to play for Holland in their Euro 2008 qualifying match away to
Slovenia tomorrow after overcoming a calf strain, will also
return.
There was better news, too, on the issue of Cristiano Ronaldos new
contract. The Portu-gal winger has reiterated his desire to stay at
Old Trafford just days after Jorge Mendes, his agent, had suggested
that a deal might not be resolved until the summer amid serious
interest in the player from Real Madrid and Barcelona.
