The Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand could miss the rest of the English football season because of a calf injury.
The England captain suffered the injury in the warm-up ahead of the Premier League defeat by Wolves in early February.
United have suffered further bad news with defender John O'Shea ruled out for five weeks with a hamstring injury.
Skipper Nemanja Vidic is already missing for the Premier League game against Bolton this weekend with a calf injury, leaving only four fit defenders available for selection - Fabio, Chris Smalling, Wes Brown and Patrice Evra.
