Benayoun is expecting to face Gerrard

Sep 6 2007 by Nick Smith, Liverpool Daily Post

YOSSI BENAYOUN reckons Liverpool team-mate Steven Gerrard will do whatever it takes to appear for England at the weekend.

Benayoun will lead Israel out at Wembley on Saturday for their Euro 2008 quali-fier and expects Gerrard to be alongside him in the England line-up despite the row currently surroun-ding his recovery from a broken toe.

England manager Steve McClaren has refused to rule out the possibility of the Liverpool skipper having a pain-killing injection to help him through the game if he hasn’t fully recovered from his broken toe – a procedure Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez is set to vigorously oppose.

But Benayoun said: “I have been at Liverpool for two months, and from what I know of him, he will do everything to play for England.

“I do not know how much pain he has but I think Steven Gerrard is the best midfielder in the world – so it is very important for England that he will play.”

Gerrard has been with the England squad during their training sessions this week but has yet to participate, suggesting he is struggling to be fully fit for the vital qualifier.

Benayoun is confident, however, that the current shortage of players McClaren is suffering won’t force him to play a unfit Gerrard.

England are limited by injuries to Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and David Beckham and the suspension of striker Liverpool’s Peter Crouch.

As Lampard and Crouch are likely to both be available for the next Wembley qualifier on Wednesday, McClaren is thought to be desperate to get Gerrard in the team to take on Israel then allow him to recover from his injection when he has more options for the Russia game.

Benayoun added: “If Steven Gerrard does not play, then some others will – there are a lot of good England players. Even though there might be guys out like Gerrard and Beckham, the players who come in instead of them are also good players and play at the highest level every week, so it will be difficult anyway.”

While Benitez and McCalren have both previously insisted they will have the final say on whether Gerrard plays, the expert opinion of former England physio Fred Street is that the player should make the decision.

Street, now 75 and still working at his Park Lane clinic in London, said: “It comes down to the patient in the end. The player is the patient. He’s got to decide whether he is agreeable to having it numbed.

“But there is a risk, players can get stood on with big toe injuries and while the injection numbs the pain for two hours, it can get a bit more sore afterwards.

“I only remember us giving a player an injection for something similar once and that was on Bryan Robson. He had a sore toe where the nail was lifted. There was no problem but his injury was not a structural one.

“There is no danger, it is only an anaesthe-tic but the risk is that he might miss the next game. It is a club-versus-country issue again and I don’t supp-ose it will ever go away.

“If he comes through the game with no problems, everyone will forget about it but if he hobbles off then there is bound to be recriminations.”

Fernando Torres, meanwhile, has played down the injury scare that forced him to sit out training with the Spanish squad.

The 23-year-old Liverpool record signing has declared himself fit for their forthcoming qualifiers against Iceland and Latvia. Torres said: “I received a knock from (David) Albelda and at first I did not really give it a second thought. I began to notice it more in the afternoon and the doctor told me that it might feel a bit painful but it was nothing serious.”