[DavidMc]

McFadden set to miss Croatia friendly

Birmingham forward James McFadden will miss Scotland's midweek friendly against Croatia after undergoing keyhole surgery on a knee injury.
McFadden sat out Saturday's 2-1 defeat by Reading in the Premier League and is also discounted for matches against Manchester City and Wigan.

Manager Alex McLeish said: "James had a small tear in his knee.

"He had keyhole surgery and we'll miss him for two more matches. It happened after the Newcastle match."

Scotland manager George Burley is under pressure to rest several Old Firm players for his first match in charge.

The Scottish Premier League has a backlog of fixtures exacerbated by drainage problems at Motherwell's Fir Park and Gretna's fall into administration.

And leaders Rangers host reigning champions and closest challengers Celtic in a crucial game that kicks off at 1230GMT on Saturday.

Rangers and Scotland captain Barry Ferguson sat out his club's midweek Scottish Cup quarter-final draw with Thistle with a troublesome ankle injury.

He played through the pain to return for Saturday's league win over Hibernian but could be risk against Croatia.

Rangers team-mates Christian Dailly, Lee McCulloch, Allan McGregor and Kris Boyd are also in Burley's squad.

The new manager also named five Celtic players - Gary Caldwell, Steve McManus, Scott Brown, Paul Hartley and Barry Robson - and they could all face Gretna on Sunday before the national squad gathers.