Valencia out for the season after freak injury
Published 23:12 14/09/10 By David McDonnell
Antonio Valencia is out for the season after suffering a horrific broken ankle last night as Manchester United's faltering season continued.
Valencia will undergo surgery today after breaking and dislocating his left ankle when he fell awkwardly on the Old Trafford turf.
Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed United's worst fears over Valencia and also admitted he blundered in leaving form striker Dimitar Berbatov out of his side.
"Valencia has a dislocation and fracture and will have an operation in the morning," said Fergie. "It was an innocuous challenge really, but when I saw the Rangers players waving I knew it was a bad one.
"It's a bad break for the boy. It's a similar injury to the one Alan Smith so he's probably out for the season."
Smith suffered a similar injury to Valencia playing for United in an FA Cup tie at Liverpool in February 2006 and was never the same player again.
United must hope Valencia, one of their star players last season following his £17m move from Wigan, does not suffer the same fate and makes a full recovery.
Fergie made 10 changes and watched in dismay as Rangers kept his side at bay to claim an unlikely point from the Group C opener.
Although the United boss defended his team selection, he later admitted leaving out Berbatov was a mistake.
"We wanted to see what Javier Hernandez could do, and to to do that we had to leave Berbatov out," said Fergie.
"His form has been fantastic. He's been one of our best players so far this season. His ability to create things from tight situations would have made a difference, so that was a loss.
"I know the criticism of us will be that I could have played a stronger team. But I think I played a strong team. People will forget that seven or eight of those players played in the Community Shield against Chelsea.
"You have to give credit to Rangers - their system was really difficult to break down.
"You need 10 points to qualify and obviously our home record over the years has been very good. Tonight was a blemish and now we need nine points form five games."
