Smith's 'Hong Kong' Leg

Alan Smith suffered the most horeendous injury during Manchester United's 1-0 FA Cup defeat to Liverpool on Saturday.

Smith: 'I felt my leg go from under me as I went to block a free-kick. When I looked down, the leg was lying one way and my ankle was pointing towards Hong Kong so I knew I was in serious trouble.

'But the doctors are being very positive, I've had the operation and now it's a question of starting on the road back.'

Smith's agent Alex Black was quick to play down fears the 24-year-old may never play again.

Black told Sky Sports News: 'Certainly from what Alan has been told we're not under the impression that it's at all career-threatening. It will be a long process to come back but if anybody is going to come back from it, it'll be Alan.

'He is tough, not just physically but mentally as well, so he has already started to talk about how quickly he can come back and get himself going again.

'As soon as Alan stays down for any injury, you know it is something quite serious. As they called everybody over you feared the worst and when you see the pictures it confirms it a little bit.

'He managed to stay in control of himself despite what must have been excruciating pain. What appears to have happened is when he dislocated his ankle, the force of that actually broke his leg just above his ankle as well.

'We're hopeful that the pictures look a lot worse than (the injury) actually is. The two injuries individually are both serious but they're not major, major injuries and can be treated in a relatively straightforward way, but the two together make it a long healing process for him.'

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