Scholes & Rooney miss Spain trip

Rooney has endured a poor season so far by his own high standards

Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney have not travelled with the Manchester United squad for the Champions League match against Valencia on Wednesday.

Rooney has an ankle injury but Scholes, 35, was being rested by manager Sir Alex Ferguson after playing against Bolton last Sunday.

However Michael Carrick could play competitively for the first time since the Community Shield in August.

He has returned to full training after struggling with a hamstring injury.

Rooney was substituted in the second half of Sunday's 2-2 draw with Bolton after getting injured and he joins winger Ryan Giggs on the sidelines.

The Welshman has a hamstring problem that rules him out for two weeks.

Assistant manager Mike Phelan said after the match he expected Rooney to be fit for Champions League duty, but that assessment proved to be wrong.

A statement on the Manchester United website said on Monday that "while the injury is not thought to be serious", Rooney would not be fit enough to be included.

United, who opened their Group C campaign with a disappointing 0-0 draw with Rangers, face a Valencia side currently top of La Liga.

The Spanish club began their Champions League quest with a 4-0 defeat of Turkish team Bursaspor.

606: DEBATE It's not such a tragedy as he has been looking very much off the pace recently BamBam

Rooney has endured a poor start to the season, with United boss Sir Alex Ferguson admitting last week that the player is feeling the strain of being in the media spotlight after allegations about his private life.

Former England boss Kevin Keegan, working as a TV pundit at Sunday's match, said: "His performance at Bolton tells me his confidence is shot."

Rooney was so ineffective at the Reebok Stadium that Ferguson might have looked at a combination of Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen against Valencia, anyway.

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