The Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that the defender Phil Jones will not be taking part in the last 16 stage of the Champions League match against Real Madrid. The second leg will take place at Old Trafford. Despite coming into the match with a slender advantage due to the away goal, Ferguson would have liked to have his entire squad fit and ready. However, he will have to do without the services of the former Blackburn Rovers defender Phil Jones. Jones suffered an injury during the FA Cup match against Reading a few weeks ago.

He has not taken part in the training session ahead of the match, thus confirming fears that he would miss the encounter. Ferguson confirmed this fear by stating that Jones will have no part to play in the match. However, he is confident that United will progress to the next round. This match has been billed by the two managers as the match that the world would like to see. Jones missing the match will be extremely crucial for United given that he had a major role to play in keeping the Real Madrid attacker Cristiano Ronaldo quiet during the first leg.

Ferguson has praised the history of both clubs, and has said that he is looking forward to the match. “He’s not fit. He won’t be fit for tomorrow. His performance over there was excellent but we do have options and hopefully it is something we get right. I think that both teams are in form. Real put in two fantastic performances against Barcelona. I was there on Tuesday and they were superb. They’ve found form at the right time for a game of this nature but we’ve been consistent for quite a while,” said Ferguson ahead of the match on Tuesday night.