Smith suffers serious leg injury

Manchester United FC's misery at being knocked out of the English FA Cup at Liverpool FC has been compounded by a serious leg injury to Alan Smith, described by manager Sir Alex Ferguson as "one of the worst I've seen".

Broken leg
The 25-year-old England international suffered the injury in the closing stages of the match at Anfield, which Liverpool won 1-0, landing awkwardly after sliding to block a John Arne Riise shot. "It's a bad one," Sir Alex said. "It's a break in the leg, the ligaments have gone and the ankle joint has come right out. He's gone to hospital. It's one of the worst I've seen. We're all thinking of Alan at this moment in time."

Midfield conversion
Smith joined United from Leeds United AFC in summer 2004 and has since made 52 Premiership appearances for the club, scoring seven times. He joined the club as a striker but has largely been used in a central midfield role by Sir Alex, who believes Smith has the character to recover from this setback. "He has unbelievable courage," he added. "It's going to be a long-term injury, but he knows we'll completely support him. The best we can make of the situation is to try and win the League Cup [against Wigan Athletic FC] for him next week."