Neville out of Cup final

12 April 2012

Manchester United skipper Gary Neville is out of Saturday's FA Cup final showdown with Chelsea.

Neville has not featured for the Red Devils since injuring his right ankle against Bolton on March 17.

The full-back was due to return to football training on Monday but is still reporting some pain from the injury and will now undergo an exploratory operation to discover the extent of the problem.

Sir Alex Ferguson had vowed to give his skipper every opportunity to feature against Chelsea but the odds were always stacked against the 31-year-old.

Although Neville was able to don his kit to lift the Premiership trophy with Ryan Giggs at Old Trafford on Sunday, he has never quite been able to rid himself of the problem he picked up against Bolton and has seen him miss the past 14 games of United's run-in.

Neville's absence means his place at Wembley will go to either Wes Brown, who has tended to be the England international's first-choice deputy this season, or John O'Shea.

While Ferguson can cope with Neville's absence in relative comfort, it is a major blow to England boss Steve McClaren.

Already without Manchester City's Micah Richards, who has had calf surgery, McClaren now faces the June 1 friendly with Brazil and the much more important Euro 2008 qualifier in Estonia the following week with his two right-backs unavailable.