Boost for Reds as Veron set to return for crunch tie

JUAN Sebastian Veron looks set to win his fitness race and line up against Real Madrid at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

The £28.1 million Argentinian midfielder is due back from Italy today after undergoing intensive physiotherapy on the knee ligament injury he picked up against Leeds last month.

Veron has been an inspirational figure in United’s Champions League campaign this term and was badly missed during the 3-1 first leg defeat in the Bernabeu Stadium last week.

With Paul Scholes suspended for the second match of the quarter-final tussle, Veron’s presence will be vital if United are to stand any chance of overhauling the holders’ two-goal advantage.

Manager Alex Ferguson is confident the former Lazio player will make it. “Seba has got this guru out there who he believes in,” Ferguson said.

“He has had him at Sampdoria, Parma and Lazio and we get that quite a bit. The French players also have someone they turn to. They have a faith in these sort of people.”

Meanwhile, United winger Quinton Fortune has called for the African Nations Cup to be moved to the end of the European football season.

The South Africa international is one of a growing number of players whose club careers will be compromised when next year’s tournament takes place in Tunisia between January 24 and February 14.

With most major domestic leagues either reaching a busy stage of the season, or clicking into gear again after their winter break, African players are bound to be forced back into the club-versus-country debate. Fortune, currently in the process of negotiating a new contract with the Old Trafford outfit, knows there is no easy answer to the problem.

But he feels, unless a compromise can be reached, fewer African players will be given the chance to appear on the major footballing stage.

“Maybe they have to start looking at holding these tournaments at the end of the season at the same time as the European Championships,” he said.

After producing some fine displays for his country in the World Cup, a season which promised much has become a lesson in patience for Fortune, who left South Africa at 14 to join Tottenham and eventually signed for Manchester United in 1999 after four seasons with Atletico Madrid.

He was initially sidelined with an Achilles injury picked up in the Far East last summer, then saw his excellent performances on his return to first-team action interrupted by a broken leg. Fortune has also suffered knee and ankle problems this term.

However, the 25-year-old is now fully fit again, ready to help out when required as the title race reaches its thrilling climax and eager not to get bogged down about worries over his short-term future.

“The contract is the last thing I’m thinking about at the moment,” he said. “Obviously I want to stay at the club and hopefully it should all be done by the end of the season. I just want to help out on the pitch.

The injuries have been a minor problem but you can’t let them affect you too much. I always wanted to play in England but to get the chance of coming to the biggest club in the world was almost crazy.”