Liverpool Football Club News

• Nickname:Reds
• Founded:1892
• Manager:Kenny Dalglish

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Neck injury sidelines Gerrard

20 Apr 2008 - 10:42:01

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Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has admitted that Steven Gerrard may not have recovered from a neck injury in time to play in Tuesday's Champions League semi-final first leg clash with Chelsea at Anfield.

The Reds captain missed Saturday's 2-0 win at Fulham with the injury and there were more headaches for Benitez as Sami Hyypia and Javier Mascherano picked up injuries in the Craven Cottage success.

Benitez said: "Steven Gerrard has been heading the ball a lot in training and could not play. We will have to see how he is next week."

On his selection for the match, he added: "Every manager has a responsibility for his team selections in every game and I also have a responsibility to use my squad.

"I picked a team I believed could win the match. We now need after this win just one more point to ensure fourth place in the league, even if Everton win all their remaining games.

"We have still got to be careful. We needed a good job done today and a good job was done. We can completely focus on Tuesday's Champions League game against Chelsea now.

"We've talked a lot about boardroom matters for a long time but for now I just want to speak about football, if that's possible.

"We've shown again we have quality and of course there will be some different players against Chelsea - but we can be confident."