Manchester United teenager fullback Rafael will
miss Sunday's League Cup final against Tottenham Hotspur after
being ruled out for up to a month with a fractured ankle, the club
said on Friday.
The 18-year-old Brazilian sustained the injury in last weekend's
league victory over Blackburn Rovers.
"Rafael is out for a month with a slight hairline fracture of
his ankle," Ferguson told the club's website.
"It's a blow for the kid because he's been playing in all the
games and he's done so well. He deserves to be in the final."
Ferguson confirmed he would keep faith with several of the
fringe players who got the club to Wembley for Sunday's game.
"Darren Gibson and Danny Welback will both play and deserve to
play," he said.
"Jonny Evans has hopefully recovered from Tuesday's (Champions
League) match. He was feeling his injury towards the end of the
game. Like Rafael he deserves to play in the final.
"Other than that everyone's fit. Gary Neville's in the squad,
he's been training well for about a week and will travel with us.
Anderson played 45 minutes in the reserves last night and he'll
travel down with us."
Goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar is not expected to feature, leaving
Ferguson to decide between Ben Foster and Tomasz Kuszczak.
"It's not an easy decision for me, it's something I'll have to
mull over," he said.