Organisers last night admitted Ryan Giggs' and Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer's absence from tomorrow's sold-out match between Manchester United and local giants South China came as a 'big blow'.
Welsh winger Giggs and Norwegian forward Solskjaer became the latest star players to withdraw from the match, joining a list that includes English midfielder David Beckham, United skipper Roy Keane, English attacking midfielder Paul Scholes and Norwegian Ronny Johnsen.
'We tried to get Giggs to just show up here, but he had to return to Britain to seek treatment for his thigh,' said ProEvent's executive director Julian Kam.
'It's a big blow to us. But players get injured and it is all part of the game.' Giggs and Solskjaer had actually flown to the SAR with their teammates from Shanghai but the pair caught a connecting flight to Britain.
'It's quite a serious injury. He tried to do some jogging this morning in Shanghai but was in pain. He was instructed to fly back to the UK to seek treatment,' said Kam.
'It's some kind of muscle problem and he must have sustained it while he was playing in Australia. He didn't play in Shanghai [on Wednesday].' Solskjaer's injury, sustained during Wednesday night's 2-0 victory over Shanghai Shenhua, is not as serious. Kam said: 'It's probably a recurrence of an old ankle injury.' Solskjaer, who scored the Red Devils' first goal against Shanghai, completed United's magnificent Treble when he scored the winning goal in injury time against Bayern Munich in the European Cup final on May 28.
