By David Hobbs
September 16 2005

Inspirational left-back Gabriel Heinze has been cruelly ruled out for the majority of the season with cruciate knee ligament damage.

Heinze had to be stretchered out of the Red Devils' goalless draw with Villarreal on Wednesday night and after undergoing scans and tests on Thursday, the terrible news was confirmed today.

United will certainly miss the determination and heart Heinze carries into every match which made him Player of the Year last season ahead of £30 million signing Wayne Rooney.

Sir Alex Ferguson bemoaned: ""It's not good news. He'll be out for most of the season. It's a bad blow.

"It seemed like such an innocuous incident. He went up for the ball and landed awkwardly. Normally in that situation it turns out to be nothing serious, but this is disappointing news."

Heinze's injury is the least United need with a vital match against Liverpool coming up on Sunday. United will also be out with Roy Keane for the derby tie and another 3 weeks after that. 

David Hobbs - Webmaster
[david@manutdweb.com]