Fergie Disappointed As Rooney Is A Doubt For Milan

In hindsight, I very much regret that Clarence Seedorf managed to find the net during the closing stages of the AC Milan v Manchester United Champions League game. You see, had the Dutchman failed to convert his chance, the game would have ended 3-1 in United's favour and we would have a really comfortable advantage for the return leg.

As it is, we only have a one-goal lead and half the team is out. Michael Owen, Ryan Giggs, Anderson, John O'Shea and Owen Hargreaves are definitely out while Jonny Evans and crucially, Wayne Rooney are major doubts.

"Rooney is very doubtful for the Milan game unfortunately," Sir Alex told MUTV.

"It`s one of these bad bits of luck you get - the Wembley pitch has just killed him.

'I was pleased with how Berbatov did against Wolves though and I`ll probably start with him on Wednesday."

Yeah, Berbatov did quite well but he's no Rooney. Fergie admitted earlier that he was disappointed about Rooney, more specifically that Rooney had not come off much earlier in the midweek friendly against Egypt. He spent 86 minutes on the pitch with a knee problem aand as Fergie said, it 'killed him'.

Which means that we'll probably have a very strange-looking United side which really can't hope for much more than mere survival against Milan. If we can somehow hang on to a draw or even a one-goal defeat, I'll be delighted as the starting XI wil look something like this:

Van der Sar - Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra - Fletcher, Scholes, Gibson - Valencia, Berbatov, Park

Although it would not be a surprise if Nani started on the left again, ineffective though he was at Wolves and Park could play in central midfield, offering energy and tireless running which could disrupt the flow of Milan's football.

Either way, the absentees, particularly Carrick and Rooney, will be sorely missed and we can only pray that United won't mess up from here. Our historic win at the San Siro would lose most of its gloss if we got spanked in the return leg...

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