Liverpool Hamstrung As Gerrard Looks in Danger of Missing Battle of the Bernabéu
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard will be out of action for three weeks and could miss Liverpool's Champions League clash with Real Madrid
The cost of an agonizing 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 22 February after scans revealed he tore his left hamstring during the fourth-round exit. The loss represents a severe setback to Rafael Benítez 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 Bernabéu on 25 February – exactly three weeks on from the FA Cup tie – and Gerrard will undergo an intensive rehabilitation program 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 signaled 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 Benítez, who had factored Gerrard's partnership with Torres – one that has yielded 77 goals in the past 19 months – in his decision to offload Keane to Tottenham Hotspur on Monday at a potential loss of £3.5m to the Anfield club.
Benítez 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."
Mikel Arteta, the one Spaniard left celebrating at Goodison on Wednesday after Everton's 1–0 win in extra time, admitted the club's victory will count for little unless David Moyes' team sustain their Cup run towards Wembley this season.
Everton's reward is a fifth-round date with Aston Villa, who triumphed 3–2 in the league at Goodison in December courtesy of a sublime stoppage-time goal from Ashley Young. The last time Everton knocked their Merseyside rivals out of the FA Cup, after another epic replay in 1991, they fell at the next hurdle to West Ham United. Arteta says there can be no repeat as the club look to return to Wembley for the first time in 14 years on 30 May.
"It's important to beat Villa in the next round because if we don't do that then beating Liverpool will have been for nothing," the Everton midfielder said. "We want a long run in the FA Cup and we want to reach the final and for that we are going to have to beat another good team. We have to keep this momentum going. We put in some strong performances against Liverpool in the last three games. Not to lose in those games and to beat them in the FA Cup is such a big thing for us."
Dan Gosling, Everton's 19-year-old match-winner, received a standing ovation from his team-mates in the dressing room after the game and claimed to have had a premonition that he would make his mark against Liverpool. The midfielder, signed for an initial £500,000 from Plymouth Argyle in January 2008, said: "All week I had been saying to people that I would score if I got on. I always know that, if I'm on the pitch, I'll get a chance. All the lads gave me a standing ovation afterwards but I've no doubt they would have done that for anyone else who scored."
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 22 February after scans revealed he tore his left hamstring during the fourth-round exit. The loss represents a severe setback to Rafael Benítez 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 Bernabéu on 25 February – exactly three weeks on from the FA Cup tie – and Gerrard will undergo an intensive rehabilitation program 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 signaled 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 Benítez, who had factored Gerrard's partnership with Torres – one that has yielded 77 goals in the past 19 months – in his decision to offload Keane to Tottenham Hotspur on Monday at a potential loss of £3.5m to the Anfield club.
Benítez 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."
Mikel Arteta, the one Spaniard left celebrating at Goodison on Wednesday after Everton's 1–0 win in extra time, admitted the club's victory will count for little unless David Moyes' team sustain their Cup run towards Wembley this season.
Everton's reward is a fifth-round date with Aston Villa, who triumphed 3–2 in the league at Goodison in December courtesy of a sublime stoppage-time goal from Ashley Young. The last time Everton knocked their Merseyside rivals out of the FA Cup, after another epic replay in 1991, they fell at the next hurdle to West Ham United. Arteta says there can be no repeat as the club look to return to Wembley for the first time in 14 years on 30 May.
"It's important to beat Villa in the next round because if we don't do that then beating Liverpool will have been for nothing," the Everton midfielder said. "We want a long run in the FA Cup and we want to reach the final and for that we are going to have to beat another good team. We have to keep this momentum going. We put in some strong performances against Liverpool in the last three games. Not to lose in those games and to beat them in the FA Cup is such a big thing for us."
Dan Gosling, Everton's 19-year-old match-winner, received a standing ovation from his team-mates in the dressing room after the game and claimed to have had a premonition that he would make his mark against Liverpool. The midfielder, signed for an initial £500,000 from Plymouth Argyle in January 2008, said: "All week I had been saying to people that I would score if I got on. I always know that, if I'm on the pitch, I'll get a chance. All the lads gave me a standing ovation afterwards but I've no doubt they would have done that for anyone else who scored."
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