There'll be no miracle recovery for Berba for what already amounts to a must-win qualifier for his country in Dublin on Saturday...

The latest word from the Bulgarian national team camp is that there is absolutely no way that Dimitar Berbatov will be able to take part in the World Cup qualifier against the Republic of Ireland at Croke Park this weekend.

Rumours had been swirling that the superstar striker would somehow be able to overcome the ankle injury he picked up on the weekend, after his Manchester United team-mate John O'Shea warned his Irish colleagues to not be surprised if Berbatov suited up this Saturday.

But Bulgaria boss Stanimir Stoilov has responded to these reports, which have been gathering steam in the Emerald Isle, by discrediting them completely.

"Berbatov's leg has been immobilised, it will take him 10 to 14 days to recover," he insisted to local reporters.

"After that, he will start light training sessions. He can fly to Dublin to watch the match if the United management lets him go. Our national team doctor has received all of Berbatov's medical tests and x-rays. Hardly anybody questions his injury."

Bulgaria are desperately short up-front for a game that they simply cannot afford to lose, with Manchester City's Valeri Bojinov and Hertha Berlin's Valeri Domovchiyski both set to be sidelined as well.

- Goal.com

Quite sad story for the boy who has given everything for each League Cup's game and he going to miss his very first United's medal. I see great potential in Da Silva's twin. I'm sure he is in pole position to replace Gary but unfortunately for Fabio, he's going to wait several years before he can replace Evra.

Meanwhile, Johnny Evans could be feature for this game although reports says that he's not 100% recover from the injury. To be honest, I rather have Vidic than Evans on the pitch because it could be risky for him where he could pickup serious injury. We are going to need him if something happen to one of our central defenders.

Gibson and Wellbeck are confirm in starting 11. I also hope that Possebon will be playing. I think he's going to be great one day. Same goes to Tosic, I want to see more of him although I'm sure Nani will play left winger for this game. For goalkeeper, I think its going to be Ben Foster.

This is a very bad news for us. With Gary Neville, Wes Brown, John O'Shea and Nemanja Vidic all set to miss out, we could not afford to lose another central defender. I knew this is going to happen at some stage during the season but not in the Champion League. To be honest, I think Sir Alex have made a huge mistake by letting Gerard Pique go and worst of all, re-joining Barcelona.

Jonny Evans is more to Vidic type while Pique is the next Rio Ferdinand. I don't know whether some of you notice this but Pique is an attacking minded defender with great through pass and header (defensive and offensive). Too bad that we sold him to Barcelona because that actually complete the team.

The main concern now is who's going to replace Jonny Evans? My guess, one of our midfielder will drop down to central defender role since we can rely on Fabio or Rafael to play in that position.