Park injury blow for United

Manchester United suffered a major injury blow before their Champions League clash with Celtic with Park Ji-sung ruled out for three months with ankle ligament damage.

Sir Alex Ferguson revealed yesterday the 25-year-old South Korea international was going for a scan after picking up an injury in training but expressed the hope that Park could be fit for Wednesday night’s encounter with the Scottish champions.

Instead, the news was bad.

United officials confirmed Park will require an operation that could keep him out for three months, effectively ruling him out of all United’s European group games plus a dozen Barclays Premiership games.

Coming less than a fortnight after the transfer window closed, Park’s absence could cause a major disruption to an already stretched United midfield, which Ferguson revealed on Wednesday he had tried to strengthen by making a bid for Villarreal’s Marcos Senna on deadline day.