Manchester United FC

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• Manager:Sir Alex Ferguson

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Fergie calms Neville fears

30 Sep 2008 - 07:51:57

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Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has allayed fears that club captain Gary Neville is set for another lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Ferguson left the 33-year-old out of his squad for the Champions League clash against Aalborg heightening fears that the full-back had suffered a recurrence of the ankle injury that sidelined him for virtually all of the 2007-08 campaign.

However, Ferguson said: "Gary has a slight strain but he'll be OK for Blackburn on Saturday.

"Given that he's come back from a long time off, we may manage him in a different way this season so that he doesn't play all the midweek games, or if he plays in midweek then he won't play at the weekend."

Owen Hargreaves was also left out of the squad that flew to Denmark after the former Bayern Munich star suffered a recurrence of his knee injury.

"We have to manage Owen's injury in a different way," Ferguson added.

"He's had all the treatment but his knee flares up now and again and there's nothing we can do about it.

"The specialists say that in time it'll go away and we hope they're correct because he's an important player to have. He's a big-game player, he has experience and he's adaptable in different positions."