Torres struggles through the game at Lyon
Liverpool’s injury list is beginning to get smaller according to Rafa Benitez.
However, the reds boss expects both Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres to avoid being called up by their countries in the upcoming international fixtures.
Both Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres have been either out or struggling with injuries sustained in the last set of international games. International fixtures that had little meaning – with both Spain and England having qualified for the World Cup.
Benitez was pleased to report an improvement:
“The injury situation is improving, several players have been in light training and hopefully they will be able to do more over the next few days.
“Then we will see whether they can be available. There is a big difference, though, between being fit and being available.
Aurelio, Riera and Skrtel have all returned to training. Riera has been the most long term casualty of the three.
When asked about Gerrard and Torres – the boss said:
“Yesterday Gerrard was training and working with the physios. Will he be fit or just available? We don’t know yet.
“That is something we will have to look at. For 15 days he has been without training, so can he play? At the moment I do not know.
“Torres has been to Spain to see a specialist and we have discussed it all with our medical staff. He is a little better than he was before. He will train and work with the physios. Whether he will be okay to play against Birmingham, we do not know that either, yet.
“He could play and we must be careful with him. We will look at the situation after every training session.
“I have talked to the Spanish people, their technical director and their fitness coach. They have talked to the Spanish manager and they all know that Fernando has to work hard with the physios to improve his condition.
“Let us see how we do in the next game, then they will have 15 days of the international break to get fit, then let’s see how they are after that.
“I have discussed this all with the Spanish staff, it is not an agreement but they know the situation and they know he should not be involved.
“I have not spoken to the England staff, but they will surely know that Steven has not trained for two weeks and clearly cannot be fit for a friendly.”
Liverpool play on Monday night at Anfield against Birmingham.