UEFA to probe Gerrard incident

UEFA will today study reports on the missile-throwing incident involving Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard at Anfield last night.

Gerrard was hit by missiles thrown from the Marseille fans’ section as he waited to take a corner in the first half of Liverpool’s 1-0 victory that took them into the last 16 of the Champions League.

UEFA last night confirmed the incident will be included in Portuguese referee Olegario Benquerenca’s report as well as the report from UEFA delegate Svein Johannessen.

Gerrard, who scored Liverpool’s winner in the 1-0 victory over the French side, looked to have been hit by a small metal object.

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez praised Gerrard’s restraint in a month that has seen Chelsea’s Didier Drogba punished by the FA for throwing a coin back into the crowd when the west Londoners lost in the Carling Cup to Burnley.

A Liverpool spokesman said: “The UEFA delegate is aware of what happened to Steven and it is now in his hands.”

A spokesman for UEFA at the game said: “The incident will be included in both the match delegate’s report and the referee’s report.

“UEFA are aware of what happened and any further comment will now come from them.”

It is also believed UEFA are aware the missiles came from the Marseille fans’ enclosure, and any action will not involve Liverpool.

Benitez said: “Gerrard was really good in that incident, maybe the UEFA delegate will notice what happened. Steven did well not to react.”

Gerrard scored his 30th European goal, and fifth in this season’s competition.

Benitez added: “Gerrard is a very, very good attacking midfielder, a very important player for us and his goal proved this.”

Liverpool did not play well, but are again through to the knockout stages.

Benitez said: “It is really important that we qualified for the next stage; we won and now we can approach the final game in a different way without any pressures."

Marseille boss Erik Gerets was pleased with his side’s performance, and said: “We could have come away with more, we had problems in the first 20 minutes but after that we played a good game and got into it. We had chances, and it was a good fight until the end."