Source: Telegraph
Liverpool 1 Lyon 2: Steven Gerrard limps out to add to Rafael Benitez's injury woes
The Liverpool captain is now facing a lay-off which almost certainly rules him out of the club's game with Manchester United on Sunday.[LNB]Gerrard picked up the injury to his adductor muscle in England's defeat against Ukraine last week but remained with Fabio Capello's squad for the game against Belarus, rather than returning to Merseyside for treatment, until the problem flared up in training. [LNB]Liverpool look to past glories to inspire instant revivalIt is believed he did not expect to start on Tuesday night but Benítez decided his talisman was worth the risk.[LNB]That Glen Johnson, Gerrard's club and international team-mate, failed even to start thanks to a groin strain picked up in training belies the depth of Benitez's woes. [LNB]Johnson, who was replaced here by the teenager Martin Kelly, is also thought to be unlikely to face United.[LNB]Both will receive intensive treatment at the club's Melwood training ground on Wednesday and for the remainder of the week as Benítez tries to get them fit in time for the visit of Sir Alex Ferguson's side.[LNB]So too will Fernando Torres, another victim of an adductor injury on international duty, although Benítez insisted before Tuesday's game that he was hopeful the Spanish striker would recover after missing Liverpool's last two fixtures.[LNB]Albert Riera, Torres's international team-mate, had a scan on a hamstring injury picked up in training and is another unlikely to be available in time.[LNB]Liverpool will also be without £20 million midfielder Alberto Aquilani, who has yet to feature for the club after his move from Roma this summer, though the Italian international is expected to make his first competitive appearance in this evening's reserve match against Sunderland.[LNB]The litany of injuries lays bare the paucity of options available to Benítez. As well as Kelly, rookie striker David N'Gog started Tuesday night's game, as well as the relatively inexperienced Argentine left-back Emiliano Insua.[LNB]It was hardly the sort of line-up Benítez would have chosen to field in a competition he admits he has even more desire to win because the final will be held next May in Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu.[LNB]'I am a Madrileno,' the Liverpool manager admitted. 'My family and friends are there. I coached their youth side and was number two to Vicente del Bosque there. I know the bench at the Bernabeu. It would be a very special final for me personally.[LNB]'Fundamentally, though, we do not look that far ahead. I have always been the same, at every club I have managed, that we only look to the next game.[LNB]'I'm not thinking about getting to the final at this stage.' [LNB]
