Scholes sorry for United team-mate

Sympathy for Fletcher

Published:

DEVASTATED: Paul Scholes has sympathy for banned United team-mate Darren Fletcher.

PAUL Scholes believes no words of sympathy could make Darren Fletcher feel better about missing the Champions League final.

Fletcher is set to be one of the few senior Manchester United men on duty at Hull on Sunday, knowing it will be his final appearance of a season that has one major game to come.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is unlikely to play anyone who is in contention to face Barcelona in Rome next Wednesday night.

Fletcher is condemned to sit in the stand following the semi-final red card he received at Arsenal for what TV replays showed was a legal challenge on Cesc Fabregas.

“Darren has not spoken to me,” said Scholes.

“It is just something you have to live with.’’

Scholes knows exactly how the Scotland star feels.

He was booked for a two-footed lunge on Didier Deschamps during the 1999 semi-final that ruled him out of the Champions League final victory against Bayern Munich.

But despite their shared experiences, the veteran midfielder admits it is not even worth discussing the matter with Fletcher.

Scholes said: “We are all devastated for the lad and devastated he is not going to be in the team.

“The way he has played over the last few weeks has been amazing and more than anything, he will be a big loss for the team.”

Ferguson is set to field the likes of Federico Macheda, Daniel Welbeck and Darron Gibson in his team for the final league game of the season.

Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville and Tomasz Kuszczak are also likely to feature against Hull.