Carragher to equal record

Jamie Carragher will equal Ian Callaghan’s club record of 89 European games for Liverpool when he faces Chelsea in tomorrow’s Champions League semi-final first leg.

Manager Rafael Benitez has a virtually clean bill of health for the Stamford Bridge clash, with full-back Steve Finnan now recovered from a neck problem that has kept him out for the last two matches.

Benitez has refused to be drawn on second-choice goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek’s claims he will leave the club in the summer when his contract ends, saying: “We are talking about his future, and maybe he will leave. But he is perfectly prepared mentally to be in the squad at Chelsea.”

Liverpool provisional squad: Reina, Finnan, Arbeloa, Carragher, Hyypia, Agger, Riise, Pennant, Gerrard, Alonso, Sissoko, Mascherano, Fowler, Kuyt, Bellamy, Crouch, Dudek, Zenden.