Roy Keane returns to training today, apparently ready to abandon his appeal against a five-match ban for admitting in his autobiography that he deliberately set out to injure Alf Inge Haaland.
Manchester United's captain has not yet made a public announcement about an appeal. But his manager Alex Ferguson, desperate to see him back in his side, said before his team left for Cyprus yesterday for tomorrow's Champions League match against Maccabi Tel Aviv: "I think he is going to let it pass."
Ferguson is sure to have made it clear to Keane that it is in his own, as well as the club's best interests, that he returns to the team as soon as possible after his domestic ban ends on November 2nd, with United eight points behind Liverpool and four points behind second-placed Arsenal.
With his team already having qualified for the second phase, Ferguson go to Cyprus without David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Juan Sebastian Veron and Fabien Barthez.
UEFA has postponed this week's Champions League match between Spartak Moscow and Basle until a week on Wednesday as a mark of respect for the Moscow siege victims.
Guardian Service
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