Striker Wayne Rooney will miss Thursday’s Europa League second leg tie with Ajax due to a throat infection. Rooney turned up for Wednesday’s training session with the club, but was sent home due to the illness.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said he was resting the 26-year-old in the hope he will be available for Sunday’s Premier League game at Norwich. Tom Cleverley is expected to be fit to play 90 minutes after recovering from an ankle injury.
“He has a really bad throat. There were traces of it in Amsterdam and we gave him some medication but it got worse,”
Ferguson said of Rooney.
“He has been in bed over the weekend and came in today for the first time and we are trying hard to get him right for Sunday.”
United go into the game defending a two-goal goal lead over the Amsterdam club from the first leg. But Ferguson, who watched his side blow a two-goal advantage against Basel at Old Trafford in their doomed Champions League campaign, has refused to take anything for granted. He said:
“The experience we had against Basel, where we were 2-0 up at half-time, that’s in our memories.
I don’t think we’ll be casual or careless about what we’re trying to achieve tomorrow but it’s a good lead. You can’t dispute that.”
