Scholes out for 10 weeks with ligament injury

The Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes will be out of action for up to 10 weeks after suffering medial ligament damage against Aalborg.

Manchester United's Paul Scholes is stretchered off after injuring his medial ligaments in his right knee against Aalborg in Denmark.

MANCHESTER // The Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes will be out of action for up to 10 weeks after suffering medial ligament damage in Tuesday night's Champions League victory over Aalborg. The 33-year-old former England international missed three months of last season after damaging ligaments in the same right knee and tests have shown his latest injury is more serious than first feared.

Scholes was stretchered off after 16 minutes of Tuesday's match following a clash with the Aalborg captain Thomas Augustinussen in Denmark. The Red Devils' striker Wayne Rooney was also removed with an ankle problem during the 3-0 win. "(Rooney) felt a weakness in it when he went to receive a ball and we took him off straight away," the United boss Sir Alex Ferguson said after the Group E encounter. Midfielders Michael Carrick and Owen Hargreaves are also currently sidelined.

If Scholes, who has spent his entire career at United, does recover according to schedule he could be back for December's World Club Championship in Japan. But United said the 10-week prognosis after yesterday's scan is only an approximation. Scholes, who is in the last year of his contract at Old Trafford, missed much of the 2005-2006 season with an eye condition. "I can't say I can't wait to finish my career, but I'm looking forward to finishing and everything that goes with it," Scholes told reporters in July in rare comments. "The only thing I will definitely miss is the football. The general life of a footballer is not for me, I suppose."

*AP