Soccer: United to be without Rooney at critical stage

Fabio Capello was given initial assurances yesterday that Wayne Rooney's ankle injury will keep him out of football for four to six weeks - a good prognosis for England but one which means United's title bid may rest with Dimitar Berbatov's ability to demonstrate he was worth the millions of pounds Sir Alex Ferguson paid for him the summer before last.

The results of the scan carried out on Rooney's right ankle in Manchester late this week revealed a sprained ankle. The way Rooney was helped off the pitch in Munich on Thursday had suggested Capello should fear the worst, though the striker was in fairly ebullient mood on board United's flight home from Germany hours earlier and walked down the plane to the toilet unaided by crutches, in the protective boot he was wearing yesterday.

Four to six weeks out will deprive United of Rooney for a critical, challenging period of the season, starting with Saturday's Premier League summit meeting with Chelsea at Old Trafford. They then have the second leg with Bayern, followed, after a tricky match at Blackburn, by the Manchester derby at Eastlands on 17 April. Both legs of any putative Champions League semi-final, against Lyons or Bordeaux, would appear to be in doubt, as well as Tottenham's visit to Old Trafford.

Though Rooney left the field in some distress in Munich, he did not wear the demeanour of an individual whose season was over, leaning over the back of his seat to speak to the players behind him during a flight and the in-flight film, Mr Bean, may have lifted his spirits on the two-hour journey back into Manchester Airport, which concluded with a particularly bumpy landing in a grey North-west.

The fact that he was fit for an immediate scan raised hopes that his fall in Munich had sprained his tendons n a less serious injury, characterised by bruising to the side of the foot n rather than the more ominous straining of ankle ligaments, which would cause the foot to swell. Bad swelling would have delayed a scan.

Rooney did seem to go over on his ankle rather than twist it - twisting being the action which tends to damage ligaments - and his manager had suggested immediately that the injury may not be too bad.

The striker did not come through the usual airport departure channel at Munich but was instead driven straight to the plane in a people carrier, on crutches as he boarded. An Audi was awaiting him at Manchester in which, after he waited on the plane while other passengers disembarked, he was whisked through a VIP exit avoiding passport control.

A source close to the United dressing room suggested that the initial prognosis was two to three weeks out, though this had been extended to a possible four weeks before the scan was carried out.

Capello, who looked on with horror from the stands at the Allianz Arena when Rooney crumpled to the turf in added time, would have taken news of a four-week lay-off, though that means his prime asset may have only two more domestic matches this season - the visit to Sunderland and final league fixture at home to Stoke City - as well as the Champions League final if United make it there.

But that would at least give him time to rest the knee injury which has plagued him in recent weeks n his kneecap tendons have been strained. Capello travelled back earlier from Munich.

"I am waiting to hear about the scan, and I will try and speak with Wayne. When he went down I was not happy. It is not good for me for any England player to suffer an injury," he said.

"It would be a massive blow for us if Wayne doesn't play [in the games coming up]," said Darren Fletcher. "He is quite obviously one of the best players in the world. But we have other good players. If Wayne isn't available, we will rally round. Berbatov, Valencia and Giggs came off the bench against Bayern so we still have a lot of quality."

Goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar added: "We have shown we can get through important games without Wayne. Against Bolton we got a good win when he was missing. It can happen during the course of a season. Of course, you would rather have your best players available but we have got players who can come in and do a good job."

- INDEPENDENT