Soccer:Alex Ferguson has confirmed Wayne Rooney is a doubt for Manchester United's Champions League semi-final second leg with Schalke at Old Trafford tomorrow, after the striker missed training this afternoon with "a tight hamstring".
The England forward will be monitored before the United boss finalises his line-up.
Ferguson had already suggested Rooney would not start tomorrow and is expecting to select top scorer Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen for a game in which his side will be defending a 2-0 first leg lead.
Darren Fletcher will play some part after recovering from the virus that has kept him out for a month, although Ferguson will have Sunday’s Premier League showdown with Chelsea in his mind when he makes his selection.
Denmark keeper Anders Lindegaard has recovered from the knee ligaments injury that has ruled him out for a couple of months should Ferguson wish to rest first choice keeper Edwin van der Sar.
Ferguson has urged Edwin van der Sar to ignore the dressing-room pleas for him to extend his career by another season and quit whilst he is still on top of his game.
The 40-year-old Dutchman announced his intention to retire earlier this year. Since then, he has maintained an impressively high standard, leading to calls from Rooney and Rio Ferdinand amongst others to abandon his plans.
However, Ferguson is fearful that Van der Sar's standards may start to slip rapidly and without warning and the Manchester United boss is too much of a fan to want that to happen.
"If I was giving advice to Edwin van der Sar, right now, I would say retire," said Ferguson. "He is at the absolute pinnacle of his career but sometimes, when a player gets to that age, age comes onto you very suddenly. I wouldn't want to see Edwin van der Sar in that situation. He deserves to go out at the very top and hopefully he does that."
Van der Sar is aiming to land the third Champions League triumph of his career, in addition to his fourth Premier League title since moving north from Fulham in 2005.
"His career has been absolutely fantastic," said Ferguson. "It is not just what he does on the football field. It is how he has handles himself as a professional and a human being. He is absolutely outstanding. In our dressing room at half-time and before games, he is absolutely fantastic.
"My advice to him is that this is the time. There is no reason for him to risk another year and maybe drop below his standard."
Team (from):Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Lindegaard, Rafael, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Smalling, Evans, Brown, Evra, Valencia, Scholes, Anderson, Carrick, Fletcher, Gibson, Park, Giggs, Nani, Obertan, Rooney, Berbatov, Owen, Hernandez.
