Manchester United goal keeper Edwin van der Sar shrugs off groin injury
Manchester United’s goal keeper, Edwin van der Sar, insisted the groin injury he suffered during the Champions League quarter-finals clash against Premier League rivals Chelsea was not serious.
The former Dutch international was rested by Manchester United boss, Sir Alex Ferguson, for the clash against West Ham United over the weekend, in case he needed time to recover from the strain.
During the Champions League match against Blues at Stamford Bridge, Van der Sar was visibly in discomfort. Ferguson noticed and there were a number of occasions when second choice goal keeper, Tomas Kuszczak, was seen warming up.
However, in the end he was not brought on as Van der Sar managed to finish the game.
He did need defender, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nemanja-Vidic-c27550, to take goal kicks for him, something which earned the United stopper with a yellow card. Van der Sar was accused of wasting time in order for his side to maintain their flimsy one goal lead in the first leg of the Champions
League quarter-final. The Dutchman insisted such was not the case and he was actually unable to perform.
However, Van der Sar insisted the injury was not serious, he said while speaking to reporters, “When I dived to save a shot from Torres, I went 105% for my take-off. My calf gave way a little bit and I ended up with cramp. I didn't train a lot in the last
couple of weeks, so maybe it was a bit of tiredness or something”.
Manchester United host Fulham at Old Trafford over the weekend and Ferguson might consider resting Van der Sar so he is well rested for the second leg of the quarter-finals next week. He will have to rely on Kuszczak, since new arrival, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Anders-Lindegaard-c5553,
is currently out with a knee injury, which makes him unavailable for selection.
With Manchester United so close to clenching their 19th English Premier League title, Ferguson is aware there is no room for mistakes. He has to choose between playing an unfit Van der Sar or Kuszczak, who has not proved to be as impressive as
Ferguson would have hoped.
The clash against Fulham is important but so is the second leg against Chelsea, which will guarantee United a place in the semifinals.
Van der Sar claimed he was not too concerned about the Champions League and was focusing on the upcoming match against Fulham. He continued, “We are not thinking about Real Madrid or Barcelona. We have a game against Fulham on Saturday. That is only two
days away. Then we have http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 again. That is all we are looking at just now”.
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