United will not appeal Fletcher ban

Manchester United will not appeal Uefa's decision to uphold Darren Fletcher's Champions League final ban after the midfielder was red carded in the semi-final win over Arsenal. Barcelona's Eric Abidal and Dani Alves are also set to miss the final in Rome on May 27th after the Spanish club's protests were dismissed today.

Barcelona have yet to respond to the decision but given Uefa's ruling that their protest was lodged too late in the first instance, they are unlikely to appeal.

United always held out little hope of success and after today's decision a spokesman said this evening: "Darren is an honest player and we felt we should do what we could to try and help him become eligible for the Champions League final by initially protesting his dismissal.

"However, we respect the referee's decision and we will therefore not be appealing against today's ruling."

Uefa said both United and Barcelona had missed the deadline for filing a protest but that there were no grounds for overturning suspensions in any case.

A statement said this afternoon: "Even if they had been admitted they would have been rejected as unfounded as there were no grounds for contesting the referees' original decisions."

The ban will come as a huge blow for Fletcher, a non-playing substitute at last season's final, who was sent off by Italian referee Roberto Rosetti for denying Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas a goal-scoring chance - television replays showed however he seemed to have won the ball.

Abidal's red card against Chelsea was also viewed as harsh though Alves's caution that will see him miss the final looked straightforward.

Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta is confident he will be fit for the final after tests today showed no long-term damage to his right thigh.

Iniesta sustained the injury in Sunday night's 3-3 draw with Villarreal at the Nou Camp and it was feared he would miss the Rome showpiece.

But the 25-year-old is optimistic he will be fit to line up against Sir Alex Ferguson's side on May 27.

He underwent tests on the injury, after which he told Sport newspaper: "I will be in Rome.

"It is a small tear that wasn't as bad as we thought.

"From here until the final I will only think about Rome.

"The desire that I have to play in this final is going to help (my recovery) a lot."

Barcelona's official website was also positive on Iniesta's recovery period after confirming the Spain international has a "two-centimetre tear in the muscle in his right thigh".

Rafael Marquez is definitely out as he is facing knee surgery while there is a doubt surrounding the availability of Thierry Henry after the France striker damaged knee ligaments in the 6-2 defeat of Real Madrid.