Reds blow: Nemanja Vidic ruled out for the season for Manchester United

Nemanja Vidic sustains his injury against Basel

Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Manchester United skipper Nemanja Vidic will miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury.

Vidic suffered the injury during the first-half of United's Champions League defeat to Basel on Wednesday.

"Nemanja is out for the season," confirmed Ferguson.

"It is bad news. He will be a loss."

Ferguson admitted he feared the worst when Vidic first went down following a tangle of legs with Marco Streller.

He hoped it was just medial ligament damage and his captain would only be missing for a couple of weeks.

Unfortunately, the worst case has now unfolded.

"I thought it was a bad one when I saw it," said Ferguson.

"He sees the specialist on Monday to map out the progress of when he has the operation. It won't be immediate because we have to let the swelling come down.

"It is a bit of a blow."

The confirmationis likely tocause major damage to United's hopes of retaining the Premier League title as compensation for being rolled over in Switzerland.

The Serbian's return from a calf problem sustained in the opening-day win at West Brom was cited by many as the moment United's defensive difficulties began to ease.

Despite repeated suggestions the player would leave Old Trafford, Vidic remains one of the key figures in Ferguson's squad and his absence would place additional focus on the younger players such as Phil Jones and Chris Smalling, who were chided by Roy Keane in Switzerland on Wednesday night.

It would certainly cause Ferguson a major headache given his other defensive stalwart, Rio Ferdinand, is rarely able to string games together due to a series of well-publicised! muscula r problems.

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