Manchester United’s hopes of an unprecedented second treble have been dealt a significant blow after it emerged yesterday that Gary Neville, the club captain, could be out of action for up to another six weeks because of injury.
Neville is expected to miss the whole of next month and faces a race to be fit in time for the potential Barclays Premiership title decider against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on May 9.
It is not clear whether Neville has suffered a setback in his recovery from ankle ligament damage that he suffered in the 4-1 victory at home to Bolton Wanderers ten days ago or whether United’s initial suggestion that he would be sidelined for three weeks was optimistic.
Certainly, the England defender’s absence will be keenly felt as the club step up their three-pronged pursuit of Premiership, Champions League and FA Cup honours.
Neville is understood to be hopeful of regaining full fitness by the time United visit Stamford Bridge in their rearranged Premiership fixture — their penultimate and possibly decisive league game of the season — but assuming he does not return before then, Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, will be without his captain for as many as 11 matches.
Key among those are the FA Cup semi-final against Watford at Villa Park on April 14, both legs of the Champions League quarter-final against AS Roma next Wednesday and April 10 and, perhaps most significantly, should United overcome the Italian team, both legs of the semi-final against the winners of the AC Milan-Bayern Mu-nich tie, on April 24 and May 2.
