Bridge laid low by knee surgery

Chelsea FC left-back Wayne Bridge is likely to miss the first leg of his side's UEFA Champions League quarter-final against Valencia CF after undergoing surgery on a knee cartilage problem on Tuesday evening.

England absence
The English international, who will also sit out his country's UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying Group E games against Israel and Andorra at the end of this month, is expected to be on the sidelines for three weeks after having the operation to cure a persistent injury. Chelsea face Valencia in the first leg of their last-eight tie at Stamford Bridge on 4 April, with the return at Mestalla six days later.

Meniscus tear
"Wayne had been struggling with pain at the back of the knee for about three weeks," said Chelsea club doctor Bryan English. "A scan confirmed that he had a tear in the meniscus, the shock absorber in the joint, but it was a stable tear. We thought we may be able to leave it to the end of the season but it got to the stage where he was struggling to sprint so we thought it would be best to get it done. When Damien Duff had this operation, we had him back playing in three weeks and we hope that will be the same with Wayne, but you always wait for the operation to see what the prognosis is."