Neville out for three weeks
30 Mar 2007 - 13:45:31
Manchester United captain Gary Neville will miss both legs of the Champions League quarter-final with Roma plus vital matches in the Premiership title run-in after it was revealed he is still three weeks away from returning to action.
Neville limped off just ten minutes into United's Premiership victory over Bolton two weeks ago and was forced to pull out of the England squad for the Euro 2008 qualifiers with Israel and Andorra with ankle ligament damage.
The United skipper was expected to be back in time for the trip to Portsmouth on Saturday week, but Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Neville will be out until towards the end of April.
"The swelling has only just gone down on his ankle so the injury was maybe a bit worse than we thought in terms of the swelling," he told Manchester United Radio.
"But he's been doing some good work in the gym and I expect him to be back in the first team in three weeks time."
Ferguson has also received mixed injury news ahead of Saturday's visit of Blackburn Rovers to Old Trafford.
Edwin van der Sar (calf) and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (knee) are both fit to return to action, but France international pair Louis Saha and Patrice Evra are doubtful with hamstring problems.
"Both Louis Saha and Patrice Evra have both been doing some running but whether or not they'll be fit for Saturday is questionable," he revealed.
"Nevertheless, they're near to joining the main group."