Fabricio Coloccini breaks silence on the injury which is keeping him out of Newcastle's run-in

The relegation-threatened club's captain, sidelined since February with a calf injury, suffered a setback last week.

And United manager Rafa Benitez refused to put a timescale on Coloccini's comeback ahead of this afternoon's home game against Swansea City.

In his programme column, Coloccini said: "All I want to do is to be able to help the team get out of the situation we find ourselves in.

"In terms of my calf injury, I had a slight setback last week.

"I am desperate to come back, so was pushing as hard as possible. Maybe it was too fast, but that was my decision because I wanted to be early and ahead of schedule.

"Now I have to take more time, but I am still trying to get fit as soon as possible so I can get out on the pitch and help the team in the final games."

Coloccini's last appearance came in Newcastle's 5-1 defeat to Chelsea on February 13.