Benitez not prepared to gamble on Gerrard fitness
Gerrard travelled to the Spanish capital in manager Benitez’s 20-man squad with a huge question mark hanging over his damaged hamstring, and whether he could be risked in the first leg of this last-16 clash at the magnificent Santiago Bernabeu.
With Liverpool’s domestic title challenge hanging by a thread, their continued involvement in the world’s biggest club competition is vital for the rest of their season.
And Gerrard is needed to lead from the front if they are going to have any chance against a Madrid side in rampant form, having won their last nine La Liga games in succession.
A senior Madrid official went as far as to say Liverpool would be hammered by the Spanish champions.
So Gerrard is clearly needed, but Benitez privately insisted that he would wait until lunchtime today before making a final decision.
“Steven was not fit to face Manchester City on Sunday, but we will now wait to see how he does in two training sessions before making a decision about this game,” he said.
“It will not be a gamble. If the doctor says he is okay, then it is not a risk. Steven is more mature now, he would not make a decision that would be considered a risk.
“He will be involved in light training sessions, we will not try to hide anything. We will make a decision when we are sure.
“Gerrard knows he must give something to the team, and if he cannot do that he will know he is not ready. I can trust Steven on that.”
It was not only the Gerrard issue that occupied the build-up to a match involving two clubs with 14 European Cups between them.
Asked whether he felt the matches with Madrid would have any impact on his ongoing contract negotiations, Benitez said: “Of course not, these are important games for us as a club
“We have important games now and I only want to concentrate on football. You have to judge a manager for his career, not just one or two games.”
Benitez’s future has been a subject for discussion over the weeks of contract wrangling, and there are even murmurings that the American owners may lose patience.
That would open the way for a possible move from Madrid for his services, with current coach Juande Ramos only on a short-term contract.
Much will depend on the club’s forthcoming presidential elections, but Benitez said: “I am only concerned by Real’s 11 players on the pitch, nothing else concerns me.
“It is more important to concentrate on that than the other things.”
Jamie Carragher, meanwhile, insists Liverpool can win without their captain.
Carragher said: “We can get a good result without Steven. We have done it in the past, he is a great player — one of the best in the world — and we hope he will be fit.
“But when we won the trophy in 2005 there were plenty of games when Steven didn’t play. Obviously we are a better side when he plays, and hopefully he will be playing.”
Carragher was in buoyant mood despite Liverpool’s perilous position in the domestic title race with Manchester United seven points clear at the top of the Barclays Premier League and he is clearly looking forward to playing in the Bernabeu.
He said: “It is fantastic to be here, I get very excited about ties like this because you want to experience playing in the big stadiums. We have never played here so a lot of us were really pleased with the draw.
“This is against the team who are probably the biggest in European football, and Liverpool are proud that we are up there alongside AC Milan and Real as the three most successful teams in Europe.
“For two of those teams to be pitted against each other in the Champions League shows now how big this game is.
“There are 14 European Cups won between us, and hopefully we can make it six for us this season.”
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