Rooney out of Blackburn clash

(GSM) – Wayne Rooney has been ruled out of Manchester United’s match against Blackburn on Sunday due to his ankle injury.

The 34-goal United top scorer made a miraculous recovery from minor ankle ligament damage to start Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Bayern München, but aggravated the injury in the first half.

Ferguson has insisted Rooney did not suffer any long-term damage when he aggravated his injury against the German giants, who knocked out United on away goals.

But Ferguson is resigned to being without his star striker for the Ewood Park clash, although Rooney could return for the derby against Manchester City on April 17.

“I don’t think it’s as serious as we said the first time, but I think he’ll be ready for the City game,” Ferguson said at his pre-match press briefing.

“We’ve got more time to work on it, anyway. Other than that everyone else is fit,” he added.

John O’Shea is pressing for a start while Park Ji-Sung, Dimitar Berbatov and Paul Scholes could return to the starting line-up.