Fernando Torres headache for Benitez ahead of Chelsea trip

Feb 7 2008

FERNANDO TORRES has handed Rafael Benitez a major injury scare ahead of Sunday’s trip to Chelsea.

The striker limped off after just 23 minutes of Spain’s 1-0 friendly win against France last night having suffered a thigh injury.

And Torres, who will have a scan on his return to England today, must now be considered a serious doubt for Liverpool’s crucial visit to Stamford Bridge in three days’ time.

With Andriy Voronin already sidelined, should Torres be ruled out Benitez would be left with just Peter Crouch and Dirk Kuyt as his only available senior strikers.

Crouch has started just five Premier League games this season while Kuyt, whose poor form saw him left out of Holland’s squad this week, has netted a solitary goal in the top-flight.

Meanwhile, Rick Parry yesterday called on everyone at Liverpool to pull together and concentrate on team matters – but warned the off-field uncertainty cannot be used as an excuse for the indifferent form on the pitch.

The Anfield chief executive was speaking on the first anniversary of George Gillett and Tom Hicks taking over as owners of the club.

The American duo have become hugely unpopular with Liverpool supporters, particularly after Hicks admitted holding talks with Jurgen Klinsmann about replacing Rafael Benitez as manager.

Around 2,000 fans stayed behind after Saturday’s Premier League win against Sunderland at Anfield to protest against the owners, with renewed interest from Dubai Investment Capital and a rumoured rift between Gillett and Hicks increasing the speculation surrounding the club.

But although Benitez’s side have slipped out of the Champions League qualification places amid such turmoil behind the scenes, Parry believes Gillett and Hicks cannot be held responsible for Liverpool’s performances.

“It is time to look forward, there can be no question about that,” Parry said. “The whole focus for the second half of the season has to be on football and the games we need to win.

“Everyone must pull together and there has to be a realisation that there is nothing the ownership can contribute to the winning of games.

“So my message is in the second half of the season there can be no blame and no excuses and that goes for all of us at the club. There is a lot still to play for both in the league and in the two major cup competitions we are still very much in, so let's just get on with the job in hand.

Parry added: “This is not the Liverpool we all know and love. It has never been our style to wash our dirty linen in public and it is never pleasant for anyone when it happens.

“The sooner we can put all of this behind us and get back to the Liverpool way the better. That's certainly not pointing the finger at anyone. It's a hard fact of life in football that any negative publicity quickly leads to further headlines and debate.”

“You learn to live with it. What really frustrates me is when outsiders start having a go. When this happens you know instinctively it's time to unite, draw some strength from our togetherness and get back on the rails.”

Another apparent bone of contention has been the club's plans for their new stadium, which were revised when the initial costs were deemed to be too high.

But Parry is adamant the new ground, scheduled for completion in 2011, will still be something of which the club can be proud.

“When we said we were revising things, perhaps there was a bit of consternation that we were somehow going back to the drawing board to make dramatic alterations,” he added.

“In fact, it was a case of looking at some costs to see if we could make them more efficient.”

“Could we look at some aspects of the build to make it work better without losing the impact of the design that had made it so special?

That is exactly what has happened and our plans remain on course.”

Inter Milan midfielder Dejan Stankovic faces a race against time to be fit for the Champions League first knockout round first leg at Anfield after sustaining a thigh injury against Empoli last weekend.