WORRIED Middlesbrough midfielder Christian Karembeu was in hospital on Saturday night after suffering a loss of vision in one eye during the game at Aston Villa.

The France star, a World Cup winner in 1998 and a member of the triumphant Euro 2000 squad, had a patch over the eye as he left Villa Park in an anxious state.

Karembeu appeared to be caught by a challenge from Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie in the first five minutes of Saturday's 1-1 draw.

"I'm very worried,'' admitted Karembeu, who played on after lengthy on-pitch treatment before coming off at half-time.

"I'm going straight to hospital when I get back to Middlesbrough.

"I don't really know what happened - it all happened very quickly.

"I can't see out of the eye at all and it is a major worry for me. I stayed on the field hoping it would clear up and that I'd be all right.

"But that didn't happen. I'm hoping this is only temporary, but at the moment I don't know.''

Boro head coach Terry Venables added: "Something grazed his eye and it's a difficult one.

"It's not like someone's leg where you can see a lump or a gash, or when they have pulled a muscle.

"Christian's vision was blurred and I said to him: 'Are you all right?'

"He kept saying he was fine and I thought it was one of those things that would go in a minute.

"We got to half-time and maybe I should have acted quicker, but I didn't know for sure what was wrong. He couldn't open his eye.''

Karembeu must now be a major doubt for tomorrow's FA Cup fourth-round replay against First Division Wimbledon at Selhurst Park.

With that match in mind, Venables brought off striker Alen Boksic midway through the second half of the Villa clash.

Boro's leading scorer produced his poorest display since his £2.5m arrival from Lazio last summer, and Venables believes the rigours of the English game have temporarily taken a toll on the injury-prone Croatian.

Boksic looked less than enamoured with Venables' decision and made straight for the dressing room, pausing only briefly to wave to the Boro fans before disappearing down the tunnel.

But Venables explained: "Boksic is a huge talent and it was a difficult game for him. Villa paid special attention to him.

"I just felt he was tired. To be fair to him, he's a guy who has played abroad where they don't play the number of games we do here.

"I was tempted to give him a break altogether, but he's so good it's a hard decision to make.

"He does have certain injury problems, but he's done well to be there for us as often as he has. You can't knock him for that.

"His injuries are no big deal, but when tiredness creeps in you want to do what you can to keep him fresh.

"I've seen this many times. Certain people are more able to deal with a lot of games in a short period of time than others.''

Venables again saluted the influence of skipper Paul Ince.

"He's playing very well at the moment,'' said Venables.

"As a captain he's maturing well, both on and off the field.

"By that I mean he let his feelings be known in the dressing room at half-time when we were one down.

"I also thought our three central defenders - Ugo Ehiogu, Colin Cooper and Gianluca Festa - were excellent.''

l Spanish giants Real Betis are being linked with a move for Boro's Colombian striker Hamilton Ricard.