Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has insisted that starting Steven Gerrard in last night’s 1-2 defeat to Lyon in the Champions League was not a risk.
Poor Reds beaten by late Lyon show
Gerrard was forced to come off during the first half of the game with a reoccurrence of the groin injury that kept him out of Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Sunderland.
The Reds skipper will now undergo tests to determine the extent of the problem with Kopites’ fingers and toes crossed he will be fit for Saturday’s Premier League clash at home to Manchester Utd.
Benitez said, “It was not a gamble to play Gerrard. He wanted to play and had trained normally for two games. He was given the all-clear by the doctor, and what happened was just bad luck. He felt something wrong in his groin, and it was wise to come off.”
The result was Liverpool’s fourth consecutive defeat – the first time a Liverpool team has done that since 1987.
Benitez added, “We just had too many problems before and during the game. Losing Glen Johnson before the match, and then Gerrard and Martin Kelly during the match, was just too much to contend with. It was a difficult game with all our problems, and we had done well to be leading at the break. Then we had two or three chances soon after the interval. Had we scored, it would have changed everything.”
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