Roy Keane is definitely out of Manchester United's Champions League semi-final, first leg against Bayer Leverkusen tomorrow night but will be fit for the return next week, manager Alex Ferguson confirmed today.
A newspaper report in England claimed the inspirational Republic of Ireland captain would be fit for the first leg at Old Trafford after recovering from a hamstring strain suffered against Deportivo Coruna just three weeks ago.
United initially thought he would be out until the middle of May, hopefully fit for a possible Champions League final on May 15th, but Ferguson said today he was way ahead of that schedule.
"Roy did a bit of training yesterday and he has trained this morning," the manager told a news conference.
"He won't play tomorrow, but hopefully he will be ready by next week. I am very surprised by the progress he has made. It's remarkable."
Ferguson said that United used revolutionary medical equipment to speed up Keane's recovery.
"The treatment we gave him was different," Ferguson said. "We had an oxidisation cylinder that he spent three days in for four-and-a-half hours-a-day. That certainly helped his recovery."
Keane will be joined on the sidelines by Ronny Johnsen and Quinton Fortune, who both have hamstring problems, and David Beckham, who has a broken foot.