Furious: Benitez
Rafa Benitez has challenged the FA to apologise over
their treatment of Steven Gerrard and accused them of a 'massive
mistake' in forcing him to prove he was unfit for England
duty.
The
Liverpool manager was seething at the way national coach
Fabio Capello appeared to doubt the club's word over Gerrard's
groin injury and subjected him to a 400-mile round trip to be
examined by England's medical team.
The second opinion duly confirmed that the Liverpool skipper had
suffered a slight tear to his groin and, after ruling him out of
Saturday's home game with Fulham and admitting he may not make
Wednesday's Champions League group match against Marseille, Benitez
fumed: 'We have one more training session before facing Fulham, but
I don't think Stevie will make it. That means the FA have made a
massive mistake.
'It would be nice if someone rang to apologise, but I am not
really expecting a call.'
Benitez contrasted the approach of England with Spain's handling
of striker Fernando Torres, who will return to Liverpool's starting
line-up against Fulham.
'Gerrard is not fit to play against Fulham and that's it for
me,' he said. 'He is recovering well and he has a chance of being
fit for Wednesday.
'We have been in contact with Spain and there don't seem to be
any problems with Fernando. He didn't start their game and that was
important, considering he has been injured and hasn't played
much.'