Football Talk - Liverpool's injury woes deepen - 10/11/09
Liverpool suffered more injury woe in the 2-2 draw at home to Birmingham City on Monday, with Albert Riera and Yossi Benayoun both forced off.
Spain international Riera suffered a recurence of a hamstring problem when stretching, while Benayoun also injured his hamstring late in the game and must be extremely doubtful to face Manchester City at the weekend. Fernando Torres, who declared himself unfit to face Birmingham, is also rated doubtful to make a game which, if Liverpool were to lose, could have serious repercussions on their ability to qualify for the Champions League next season.
Liverpool face a testing week once the international break is over with a trip to Hungary to face Debrecen in the Champions League sandwiched between the visit to City and a Merseyside derby at Everton's Goodison Park. Benitez hopes the international break has come at the right time.
"I will tell you after the break because every time we lose one or two players. I'm touching wood," he told the club's website. "Riera had the same problem as before. The players are sometimes available but not 100% ready. We thought he was okay but in the end you can see he wasn't. Yossi has the same problem as Riera. Some players are playing too many games in a row. They are working very hard and so you always have this risk. I think both will have tears.
"[Dan] Agger also had a problem with his back. It's not serious but he felt it a little bit. Torres had no confidence and said he couldn't play, so we started the treatment yesterday [Monday]. He has to work with the physios and try to improve and be ready. We are not talking about an operation at this moment, we're talking about treating him properly.
"I don't know if he will be ready for Man City (in two weeks). The only thing I can say is we're talking about two or three weeks working with the physios. We haven't got a deadline, we just need to see how he is every day."
On skipper Steven Gerrard, who played despite not being fully fit, Benitez added: "I think he will be okay. We have to check. There's small things but I think he'll be okay."
