Rafael Out One Month; In Unrelated News, Who Wants to Watch Me Drink A Bottle of Whiskey?

ESPN is reporting that Manchester United and Brazil defender Rafael da Silva will be out for at least a month while he recovers from an ankle fracture. The teenager suffered the injury during United’s 2-1 win against Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford last Saturday, and his subsequent absence from the Red Devil’s midweek Champions League tie with Inter Milan left many fans fearing the worst. In his pre-Carling Cup finals press conference, United manager Alex Ferguson clarified the situation.

“Rafael is out for a month with a slight hairline fracture of his ankle. It’s a blow for the kid because he’s been playing in all the games and he’s done so well. He deserves to be in the final.”

With Rafael out, Wes Brown remaining unfit for duty, and John O’Shea still recovering from a Tuesday night spent chasing down Zlatan, the other da Silva (Fabio) or, more likely, skipper Gary Neville, 176, could find themselves in the starting eleven when United take on Spurs at Wembley.

“I don’t understand… you went down due to an actual ankle injury? Explain this concept to me!”

On a more positive note, this weekend’s match will see the return of Anderson. The Brazilian had been training with the first team recently, and his inclusion (as well as that of a fully fit Jonny Evans, Danny Welbeck, and Darron Gibson) will give the United an opportunity to rest those players still recovering from two matches in four days.

“Gibson and Welbeck will both play and deserve to play,” said Sir Alex. “Jonny Evans has hopefully recovered from Tuesday’s match… Like Rafael he deserves to play in the final. Other than that everyone’s fit. Neville’s in the squad, he’s been training well for about a week and will travel with us. Anderson played 45 minutes in the Reserves last night and he’ll travel down with us.”

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Category: Manchester United

Tags: Anderson, ankle fracture, Carling Cup finals, Gary Neville, injury, Manchester United, Rafael da Silva, Sir Alex Ferguson

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