Manchester United Football Club News

• Nickname:Red Devils
• Founded:1878
• Manager:Sir Alex Ferguson

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Ankle injury sidelines Rafael

27 Feb 2009 - 13:56:00

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Manchester United teenager Rafael faces a month on the sidelines after it was revealed that he has suffered a fractured ankle.

The 18-year-old sustained the injury in last weekend's victory over Blackburn Rovers and will play no part in Sunday's Carling Cup Final against Tottenham.

Boss Sir Alex Ferguson feels for the Brazilian but remains determined to field an inexperienced team at Wembley.

He said: "Rafael is out for a month with a slight hairline fracture of his ankle.

"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.

"(Darron) Gibson and (Danny) Welbeck will both play and deserve to play.

"Jonny Evans has hopefully recovered from Tuesday's match (against Internazionale). 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."

Ferguson is expected to rest Edwin van der Sar but is unsure whether to start with Ben Foster and Tomasz Kuszczak in goal.

"It's not an easy decision for me, it's something I'll have to mull over," he added.