Wayne Rooney will miss Manchester United's Premier League match against Blackburn on Sunday because of his ankle injury.
The England striker limped out of Wednesday's Champions League elimination to Bayern Munich in the 55th minute after aggravating the ankle problem he sustained eight days earlier.
Rooney damaged ankle ligaments in the 2-1 first leg loss in Munich and sat out the weekend Premier League loss to Chelsea before returning for the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals.
Manager Alex Ferguson now hopes to have Rooney ready to face rival Manchester City on April 17.
"I don't think it's as serious as we said when he got the injury the first time, but I think he'll be ready for the City game," Ferguson said Friday. "We've got more time to work on it, anyway. Other than that, everyone else is fit."
The absence of Rooney, who has 34 goals this season, is likely to be just one of several changes to United's lineup as Ferguson tries to keep players fresh for the last few games of the season.
Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and John O'Shea could all come into the team.
"Given the nature of the game on Wednesday and the energy spent, we have to address the situation of freshness," Ferguson said. "We've got a a squad to use.
"Hopefully we can get the energy back in the team. If we do that we'll be all right.
