Gerrard doubt for England
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has cast doubts over whether Steven Gerrard could play for England in their World Cup double-header with Wales and Northern Ireland next month.
The Reds captain is definitely out of the Champions League third qualifying round second leg against CSKA Sofia on Tuesday with a calf injury, but it has also now emerged he is struggling to face CSKA Moscow in the European Super Cup in Monaco on Friday.
If that turns out to be the case Benitez believes playing for England the week after will also be a major problem.
Benitez says: 'If he is not fit for Friday's match it will be dangerous to play for England.
'If he has not played games before the internationals it will be dangerous for him to play for England.
'I would need to talk to the doctor after the Sofia game, and then about Monaco for the Super Cup. If he is not fit in two or three days, for him to play a week later would be dangerous, I will talk with the England manager if it is necessary.'
Gerrard suffered the injury in the 1-0 home win over Sunderland on Saturday, his 11th match this summer in Champions League qualifiers, friendlies and England's game last week in Denmark.
Many at Liverpool were surprised that Gerrard was asked to play 84 minutes of that match in Copenhagen considering his demanding workload.
Now Benitez is worried about whether his skipper would be able to figure for England in their forthcoming World Cup Group Six qualifiers.
He said: 'It is hard to say whether Steven would have picked up his injury if he hadn't played so many games, you just don't know.
'Jamie Carragher played every game and every minute of last season and he was always fit. In Gerrard's case we have to be very careful.
'I hope he can play in the Super Cup, and he wants to play but he knows he must work very hard with the medical team. He is very important for us.'
He added: 'I have talked with Steven and the doctors and it may be difficult for us to see him playing on Friday. But he wants to play and he will work hard with the physios and we will be clearer in two or three days.
'But it is not a big problem, we have other players, but we must be careful with him.
'I will rotate my squad, change some players but always with the idea of fielding a strong side. But always you must be careful of what the other team can produce, you never know.
'That is true, it is football, if they score one goal then we will know it is a harder game.
'We do not want that and we must go into the game intent on winning and using other players when we are in a good position to do so.'
Dietmar Hamann will play against Sofia, and Liverpool may also bring in Darren Potter, John Arne Riise, Scott Carson and Antonio Barragan.
Benitez said: 'I have a lot of respect for Sofia, and they play well in attack. But we have another game on Friday in Monaco and this is the time to use the squad, to give players some rest and to field a side that will still be strong and do the job for us.
'If we want to be sure we must score as soon as possible and the game will be finished. They will try hard from the start, with a very high tempo, and we expect that but we hope that we can end the tie early.
'We need to win the first one to be in the Champions League, that is the first objective. Then the second game against Moscow means we can win a trophy, we will use two good teams in both games and have the possibility to do that.'