Rooney out of United's Europa League game vs Ajax

LONDON (AP) — Manchester United says Wayne Rooney will miss the Europa League match against Ajax on Thursday because of a throat infection.

Rooney became ill following last week's 2-0 victory in the first leg of the last-32 match in Amsterdam. He was sent home despite reporting for training on Wednesday morning.

United manager Alex Ferguson says Rooney "has a really bad throat. There were traces of it in Amsterdam and we gave him some medication but it got worse. He has been in bed over the weekend."

United has a Premier League match against Norwich and Ferguson says "we are trying hard to get him right for Sunday."

The Premier League champions are two points behind Manchester City in the title race.