Soccer:Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney will be out for up to three weeks as he recovers from minor ankle ligament damage, the Premier League champions confirmed this morning. Rooney sustained the injury in Tuesday's 2-1 defeat at Bayern Munich.
Pictures of him limping off at the Allianz Arena had sparked fears that the 24-year-old could miss England's World Cup campaign in South Africa.
"The nation can breathe again. We're relieved, it could have been worse," United manager Alex Ferguson told reporters.
His absence comes as a big blow to United, who host second-placed Chelsea on Saturday with just a point separating the two title rivals after 32 games.
Owen Hargreaves and John O’Shea are in contention to make their comebacks after lengthy absences through injury.
Hargreaves has been out of action for nearly 18 months following major surgery on both knees, whilst O’Shea has not played a game since suffering complications in his recovery from a dead leg sustained in the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup play-off defeat to France in November.
With Rooney ruled out, Dimitar Berbatov is set to lead the United attack.
Ferguson, meanwhile, believes Carlo Ancelotti has done a “good job” in his first year as boss of Chelsea. Ancelotti has endured a mixed debut campaign after being installed as the Blues’ fifth manager in three seasons.
Defeat to Inter Milan in the Champions League first knock-out round was a blow, while Chelsea head to Old Trafford tomorrow having not made the most of the six defeats suffered by the defending Premier League champions this term.
Yet the Italian has brought a sense of stability to Stamford Bridge after recent upheavals and they could yet end the campaign with a domestic double given an FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa awaits at Wembley next Saturday.
And, although he will not be offering any favours tomorrow, Ferguson believes the former AC Milan coach has every reason to be satisfied with his efforts.
“There has been no failure on Carlo Ancelotti’s part at all,” said the United chief. “He has done the job well. He is a man of great experience. He has won two European Cups as a coach and was a great player.
“You are talking about a pretty high competition level; in Europe and everything, and at this moment in time Chelsea are only a point behind us and they are in the semi-final of the FA Cup.
“The disappointment would be being knocked out in Europe. But it was a really strong performance from Inter Milan to knock them out. Overall, I think he has done a good job.”
Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has recovered from a training knock and will spearhead their attack. Drogba sat out last weekend's 7-1 victory over Aston Villa and missed two training sessions after collecting a minor leg injury in training.
Michael Essien (knee); Ashley Cole (ankle); Ricardo Carvalho (ankle) and Jose Bosingwa (knee) are all sidelined along with Branislav Ivanovic (knee).