Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Gareth Bale will miss the trip to AC Milan in the Champions League this week because of a back problem, his manager Harry Redknapp said.
The flying Welshman, who scored a memorable hat-trick in the San Siro against Inter Milan in the group stage
of the competition, has missed Tottenham's last four matches after suffering back spasms.
"Gareth is not too far away. He's not going to be fit, I don't think, for [the flight] but he's not too bad," Redknapp said after Tottenham's 2-1 Premier League victory at Sunderland at the weekend.
"The specialists have seen it, he's had an epidural injection. Peter Crouch has had the same problem and he is fine - in fact, his back looked a lot worse on the scan."
Redknapp said Rafael van der Vaart should be fit for the last 16, first-leg tie against the seven-times European champions despite him also missing the Sunderland victory.
The Dutchman came off at halftime during the win over Bolton Wanderers with a calf strain.
Between them, Bale and Van der Vaart have scored six goals in Tottenham's impressive first campaign in the Champions League.
Midfielder Luka Modric is also in doubt for Tottenham after having his appendix removed last week.
Assistant referee Sian Massey has faced unwelcome chants on her return to the Premier League for the first time since being the subject of a sexism scandal.
Two football broadcasters left Sky Sports last month after being caught off air making disparaging remarks about Massey before she ran the line for Liverpool against Wolverhampton.
Massey made a low-key return to action a week ago for a fourth-tier match.
But she returned to the top-flight at the weekend to work alongside World Cup final referee Howard Webb at Blackpool's match against Aston Villa.
Blackpool manager Ian Holloway said he "didn't like some of the shouts" which included "There's only one Andy Gray".
Gray was fired by Sky, while colleague Richard Keys quit.
