LIVERPOOL WILL BE WITHOUT GERRARD AND MORIENTES

Anfield
By J Wade
February 22 2005

Liverpool will be without the aid of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Morientes in tomorrows Champions League clash with German giants Bayer Leverkusen.

Steven Gerrard is suspended for the second round Champions League clash whereas Fernando Morientes is ineligible as he has already played for Real Madrid in the same competition earlier in the season.

The loss of these two players is a massive blow to the team but Rafael Benitez insists that Liverpool are still very capable of picking up a positive result due to the quality available in the squad despite all the injuries.

"It's always good to have our best players available but this is not always the case," says Benitez. "It is normal to have player out through either suspension or injury and there is nothing we can do about it. We have been preparing for this game without those players and we have solutions.

"It is in attack were we are most affected but we have options to play alongside Milan. We have Kewell, Le Tallec, Garcia and Smicer. They all have experience."