Benitez underlines Gerrard importance

RAFAEL BENITEZ has underlined just how crucial Steven Gerrard is to Liverpool’s future after the Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Gordon Taylor criticised the over-use of the England midfield star.

And Liverpool chief Benitez will have his skipper leading from the front today in a crunch Barclays Premier League clash at Blackburn, with Mark Hughes’ men now one place ahead of the Anfield club in the table.

Taylor, the Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive, said of Gerrard: “If that was a racehorse,