Gerrard to the rescue for Reds
Liverpool produced a laboured performance before skipper Steven Gerrard came on in the closing minutes to grab his seventh goal of the campaign, with Djibril Cisse adding another to clinch a 2-0 victory over Kaunas - and a 5-1 success on aggregate.
But Benitez admitted his concern when Crouch limped off in the 54th minute, clearly in pain from a muscle injury.
The Spaniard said: "We realised he was hurt very quickly and the decision was made straight away to take him off.
"I do not really know how bad the injury is until the doctors have had a look at him tomorrow, but hopefully it is not a major worry.
"We will have to see about next week's match in the final qualifying round."
Liverpool will not know their opponents next week until CSKA Sofia and Tirana play out their second leg tonight, but the Bulgarians are 2-0 ahead and should go through to a meeting with the holders.
Once again it was Gerrard appearance as a late substitute that turned the match.
And Benitez said: "Steven is scoring a lot and I hope he continues to do so in the next rounds. As I always say, he is very important for us.
"He, along with several others, were left on the bench for this one because I was thinking about the next round, it is better for us if players are rested and other players get the chance of playing."
Gerrard dismissed his own goalscoring records and hailed Cisse, saying: "He has been through a lot these past few months.
"He has shown tremendous mental strength and it is amazing how quickly he has come back from such a bad injury when he broke his leg.
"When he is fit and available he is a very dangerous player and it was vital he got a full pre-season under his belt. Now he has I think he will have a good season."
Benitez also praised Cisse and Mohamed Sissoko for their displays. Cisse scored the second and the Anfield boss said: "Strikers need confidence and it comes from scoring goals, he is certainly improving and looking sharp.
"And I was delighted with Sissoko. He was one of our best players, working hard and regaining the ball. I was happy with his performance."
It was all change in more ways than one as Benitez took the chance to rest eight of the side which won the first leg 3-1 in Lithuania.
Zak Whitbread got a chance at centre-back while Peter Crouch made his home debut along with Mohamed Sissoko.
Luis Garcia's trickery was met with a string of fouls, while every Crouch touch created a sense of anticipation from the fans.
But there was little else to enthuse the home faithful apart from a Fernando Morientes glancing header that was pulled down by goalkeeper Sarunas Kilijonas.
Cisse took over from Morientes at the break, and immediately linked better with Crouch.
The pair made chances for each other, with Luis Garcia also firing over. But the new front pairing was short-lived with Crouch limping off. The Lithuanians continued to frustrate the Anfield men, forcing errors borne more from frustration than anything else.
Zenden saw a fierce drive headed away from a gaping goal by Irmantas Zelmikas before Hyypia hit the crossbar with a header from Dietmar Hamann's corner. Gerrard's came on for Hamann after 75 minutes and two minutes later his fierce low drive from 25 yards was only half stopped by Kilijonas, and the ball rolled agonisingly over the line.
Cisse added the second five minutes from time.
: Carson, Finnan, Hyypia, Whitbread, Warnock, Luis Garcia, Hamann (Gerrard 75), Sissoko, Zenden, Crouch (Potter 55), Morientes (Cisse 45).
: Kilijonas, Kancelskis, Zelmikas, Baguzis, Manchkhava, Pehlic (Barevicius 66), Vadim Petrenko (Klimek 45), Kvaratskhelia, Kunevicius, Poderis (Maciulis 87), Rimkevicius.
: Gianluca Paparesta (Italy).
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