SOCCER:THE COST of an agonising night at Goodison Park increased for Liverpool yesterday when it was confirmed that Steven Gerrard could miss their Champions League encounter at Real Madrid due to a hamstring tear suffered in the 1-0 FA Cup defeat by Everton.
The midfielder is a certain absentee from Liverpool’s league trip to Portsmouth tomorrow, the England friendly with Spain in Seville next week and his club’s home game with Manchester City on February 22nd after scans revealed he tore his left hamstring during the fourth-round exit. The loss represents a severe setback to Rafael Benitez who now faces returning to his native Madrid without his captain.
Gerrard “will be out of action for about three weeks”, a club spokesman confirmed, after the 28-year-old limped off 16 minutes into the replay at Goodison. The first leg of Liverpool’s last-16 meeting with Real takes place at the Bernabeu on February 25th – exactly three weeks on from the FA Cup tie – and Gerrard will undergo an intensive rehabilitation programme designed for him to meet that date.
Liverpool will take no chances with Gerrard’s fitness for the Champions League tie, however, having lost Fernando Torres for two extended spells this season with a similar injury. Gerrard himself signalled to be replaced as soon as he felt the problem on Wednesday night and will not be risked as Liverpool enter a critical phase in their pursuit of both the Champions League and the Premier League titles.
The impact of Gerrard’s absence was immediately apparent against Everton, with Liverpool offering minimal threat without their leading scorer, the man responsible for their goal in each of the two preceding Merseyside derbies and 16 in total this season.
It is also unfortunate timing for Benitez, who had factored Gerrard’s partnership with Torres – one that has yielded 77 goals in the past 19 months – in his decision to offload Republic of Ireland captain Robbie Keane to Tottenham Hotspur.
Benitez conceded the timing of Keane’s exit had posed a risk to Liverpool’s aspirations this season, given that the deadline-day departure allowed no time to sign a replacement. But the Liverpool manager has insisted that, in Dirk Kuyt, Ryan Babel and David Ngog among others, he has the options to sustain the club’s challenge at home and abroad. Kuyt said yesterday: “The key now is how we react to this defeat. The positive thing from our point of view is that on the two other occasions we have lost games this season we managed to come back in the weeks that followed. That is what we must do now.”
Meanwhile, Harry Redknapp has fired the opening shot in the psychological battle ahead of Sunday’s north London derby by insisting that Arsenal are there for the taking.
Tottenham Hotspur salvaged an improbable 4-4 draw at the Emirates Stadium last October in Redknapp’s second game in charge and, with his team buoyed by their unbeaten Premier League record against the so-called “big four” this season, he sees vulnerability in Arsenal. Keane, appointed team captain, will make his second Spurs debut, but Redknapp has a selection dilemma over who to start in goal.
Heurelho Gomes is fit again after missing four games with a thigh problem but Carlo Cudicini, who was signed from Chelsea last month, has played in the last two and won praise from Redknapp. “I’ll make a decision,” the manager said. “I’ve got two good goalkeepers.”
Redknapp reiterated that, with a tricky schedule ahead, he considered the club to be in a relegation fight. “We are still in there,” he said. “We’ve got to go on a run now. We’ve got 14 hard fixtures and we’ve got to pick up enough results to make sure we climb the table.
