Steven Gerrard is expected to play for Liverpool against Chelsea on Sunday despite a broken toe. It is a prospect that may cause Steve McClaren, the England head coach, more anxiety before the critical forthcoming European Championship qualifying matches than the Merseyside club’s unwillingness to release Gerrard for a friendly match against Germany three days later.
McClaren will announce his squad today to face Germany, with most interest centred on the expected inclusion of David Beckham and on whether David Bentley, the Blackburn Rovers winger, is called up after withdrawing from the squad for the European Under-21 Championship finals in June. But Gerrard will play no part at Wembley after an X-ray yesterday revealed that he had suffered a hairline fracture of a toe during Liverpool’s 1-0 Champions League victory in Toulouse on Wednesday.
That is alarming enough for McClaren as he prepares for next month’s Euro 2008 qualifying matches at home to Israel and Russia — fixtures that Wayne Rooney is certain to miss with a hairline fracture of the foot — but it is perhaps more worrying that Rafael BenÍtez, the Liverpool manager, plans to use Gerrard against Chelsea at Anfield this weekend. The Liverpool captain will require a painkilling injection beforehand and, according to BenÍtez, seven to ten days’ rest afterwards, the manager acknowledging the “small risk” of a longer layoff if the 27-year-old plays on Sunday.
Steve has a hairline fracture at the tip of the big toe on his right foot,” BenÍtez said at Liverpool’s training ground yesterday. “We have confidence he will be available for the weekend and then he must rest. He wants to play [against Chelsea] and the doctor thinks that we can manage the situation. It is a small risk. We need to manage the risk.
“The problem with an injury of this kind is that if the player carries on training and playing games, then it will be more of a risk.”
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