United suffer Fletcher upset
Wednesday, 16 February 2005
Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Manchester United FC will be without midfield player Darren Fletcher for both legs of their UEFA Champions League tie with AC Milan after the Scottish international sustained knee ligament damage.

Vital games
The 21-year-old suffered the injury in Sunday's derby win against Manchester City FC and looks set to be out for at least seven weeks. That will mean he misses the Round of 16 matches with Milan on 23 February and 8 March as well as Scotland's FIFA World Cup game in Italy on 26 March. Fletcher could also struggle to return for a potential Champions League quarter-final in early April.

'Bad news'
The United manager said: "It is bad news for us and it's bad news for Walter [Smith, Scotland manager]. It does look very bad. I am told he will be out for a minimum of seven weeks but, of course, that is no certainty. He could be out longer. It is worse news for the lad because he had been playing so well and had so much to look forward to."

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