Scholes tells heartbroken Manchester United team-mate Fletcher: I know what it's like to miss a Champions League final

n Paul Scholes's mind he has won the Champions League only once. He has two winner's medals at home, but one - from the 1999 final in which he didn't play - stays hidden in a drawer.

Roy Keane is known to feel the same. He, too, missed Manchester United's triumph over Bayern Munich in Barcelona 10 years ago through suspension.

Now it is Darren Fletcher's turn, denied an appearance in Rome at the end of the month because of an unjust red card.

Yellow peril: Scholes is in agony as he is booked in the Champions League semi-final against Juventus, so ruling him out of the 1999 final

United appeared to have lost any chance to overturn Fletcher's dismissal after UEFA and the refereeing community backed Roberto Rosetti's decision.

It is understood that United's hopes faded when they learned first that UEFA felt there were no grounds for appeal and then that Italian referee Rosetti's decision to dismiss Fletcher had been backed by match assessor - and Fletcher's compatriot - Hugh Dallas.

There has been no official protest but United had hoped that Rosetti would admit that he made a mistake in his report. But that is now thought to be highly unlikely after he received public and private backing from UEFA and former referee Dallas.

UEFA spokesman Rob Faulkner said: 'United have the right to file a protest within 24 hours of the match. However, a protest against a caution or sending- off is only admissible if the referee's error was to mistake the identity of the player.'

Pain game: Roberto Rosetti waves goodbye to Darren Fletcher's Rome dream after sending off the midfielder

Scholes, first into the United dressing room at the Emirates on Tuesday, continued to back his team-mate last night when he said: 'If you look at replays of the incident you can clearly see he got the ball.

'Of course I have sympathy for him.

'I just shook his hand and said, "Well played". I told him he was fantastic again, just as he was in the first leg.

'It's not a nice feeling when you have to sit there and watch the final. Obviously if your team's in it you want to be involved.

'It's the biggest game of your life, the European Cup final. Everyone wants to be playing and it's desperately disappointing if you can't be, especially when it's something that wasn't deserved. I think everyone can see that.

'It was different with me. I'm not sure whether it was a legitimate yellow card that I got, but I got one