Coach Capello sweating on Rooney's fitness

Fabio Capello will pick up the phone to make the call he dreaded desperately, hoping to hear some good news from Wayne Rooney today.

Yesterday, Manchester United wasted no time in getting a medical assessment on the ankle injury their star man suffered against Bayern Munich on Tuesday night.

After waiting patiently on the Finnair flight, that brought him back to England, for his fellow passengers to disembark, Rooney limped off with the aid of his crutches, straight to a waiting car that whisked him off for a scan.

Rather more time will elapse before Alex Ferguson reveals the extent of the injury in his normal Friday briefing ahead of the key Premier League encounter with Chelsea on Saturday, which Rooney now seems certain to miss.

By then, Capello will have made his call, his fingers tightly crossed the news is not bad.

"I will speak to him tomorrow morning (today)," said Capello.

"I was not happy, but I'm not happy whenever any England players get injured. It is too early to say how badly he is injured. We need to wait for a scan."

Although he could not say it, privately Capello must think if the injury keeps Rooney out for two or three weeks, it will have worked out perfectly.

After all, as what is thought to be a sprained ankle heals, Rooney will be getting some rest that could prove vital to England in South Africa next summer.

Longer than three weeks gets slightly worrying, double that would have the sweat beads running down Capello's neck.

Any injury at all is bad news for Ferguson, yet it appears inevitable given the pain Rooney was in as he went down under Mario Gomez's challenge in the build-up to Bayern's fateful Champions League winner.

In the next week, United's campaign will be shaped, given the Chelsea clash is followed next Wednesday by the second leg against Bayern, which Ferguson's men must now win.

Beyond that, matches against Blackburn and Manchester City await, before the resumption of European duties against either Lyon or Bordeaux should Bayern have been beaten.