Liverpool Football Club News

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Rafa blames Gerrard fatigue

05 Feb 2009 - 07:29:58

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Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez believes fatigue is to blame for the hamstring injury that Steven Gerrard picked up during Wednesday's FA Cup defeat at Everton.

The Reds skipper is due to undergo scans on Thursday to discover the extent of the problem after limping out of the 1-0 fourth round replay extra-time defeat with just 15 minutes on the clock.

"Steven Gerrard will have a scan on Thursday to see the extent of the injury, we do not really know yet," said Benitez.

"Steven was tired and he gets injured. He was tired, too, at Wigan but when I took him off there everyone was saying he had to play every single minute of every match. Now you have seen the consequences.

"He asked to be taken off, you could see at Wigan he was struggling and the same thing happened here."

Meanwhile, Benitez has issued a thinly-veiled criticism of the Football Association when asked if his skipper would fit for England's friendly in Spain next week.

In reference to a previous incident when the England medical staff made Gerrard travel to London to undergo assessment, he said: "Maybe he will have go down to London again like last time for a scan to prove he is injured."

Benitez was also unhappy with the referee after Alan Wiley sent off Lucas Leiva for two yellow cards in what turned out to be a dour match with few chances.

"We are really disappointed. To play for a long time with ten men and to concede like that from a deflection at the end, you have to be disappointed," he continued.

"The turning point of the game was the second yellow card for Lucas. I was not happy, but I do not want to say anything about the referee."