Rooney doubtful as Brown injury adds to United’s woes
Brown picked up the injury against Wolves on Saturday and there are concerns that the England defender may have broken his fifth metatarsal, the one that takes the longest to heal.
Although Brown should have recovered in time for the World Cup, the timing is bad for Alex Ferguson with Rooney doubtful for the Milan game after hurting his knee on England duty last week and Michael Owen out for the season.
Anderson (knee), Ryan Giggs (arm) and John O’Shea (leg) are also out while Jonny Evans missed the Wolves game.
Ferguson has already confirmed Dimitar Berbatov is likely to start against Milan, saying: “Rooney is very doubtful for the Milan game unfortunately. 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.”
For his part, Milan’s David Beckham is sure Rooney will play. “I’m sure Rooney will play. I think he’s had some problems in the last few days but he had the whole weekend to recover,” former United player told Milan’s TV channel last night. “He’s a fine player and he’ll want to participate in the match. Alex Ferguson will certainly use the best possible formation.”
“If I play on Wednesday I won’t be frightened but I will be excited because I played in that stadium for many years and I know what it means to be a Manchester United player. I know what it means for opponents to play there.”
United have yet to overcome Milan in the Champions League with the Italians always emerging as victors from the two-legged ties, most recently in 2007 when having lost 3-2 in the first leg at Old Trafford, they won 3-0 in the San Siro.
United again have a 3-2 advantage but this time with the away goals counting in their favour, and keeper Edwin van der Sar has warned they cannot afford to make any mistakes this time.
He said: “It’s not a case of owing Milan one, but we will want to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes we did a few years ago when they knocked us out at the semi-final stage.
“We got a good result in Milan and now we need to finish it off with a magic night at Old Trafford.”
Meanwhile Alexandre Pato has been included in Milan’s 22-man squad for tomorrow night’s match.
The Brazil international missed Saturday’s goalless draw at Roma having sustained a hamstring strain the previous weekend.
Pato will travel to England but whether the South American striker will be fit to play remains to be seen.
Pato has been in superb form for Milan this season, scoring 12 goals in Serie A and two in the Champions League.
Off the field FA chairman Lord Triesman believes the Red Knights’ takeover campaign is a sign of their concern for United and insists a fan-run club could work in England.
And asked whether fan-owned clubs such as Barcelona could work in England, Triesman insisted they can.
Triesman said: “There are some good fan-run clubs and there have been in England too – there have been some clubs in difficulties where the fans have been the decisive factor such as York City and Bournemouth.
“Broadly speaking we are organised around companies and company law and I think that is a reality of our circumstance.
“But I don’t think that fact alters the way fans look at their club and the way it is treasured in a way that not all that many social institutions are.”
Triesman said supporters have a right to be concerned about their club’s ownership and act accordingly.
He said: “All fans are concerned about the well-being of their clubs. I know well when I thought Robert Maxwell was going to take over Tottenham I was deeply concerned. People love their clubs and certainly want them to be in good shape.”
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