STEVEN GERRARD celebrated a record-breaking evening as Liverpool eased their way into the last 16 of the Europa League.
But progress came at a cost with the Anfield outfit fearing Martin Skrtel could miss the rest of the season with a suspected broken right foot.
After falling behind to an 18th-minute Bruno Fernandes header, Benitez’s side fought back to beat Unirea Urziceni 3-1 in Bucharest last night and win 4-1 on aggregate.
Goals from Javier Mascherano, Ryan Babel and Gerrard helped set up a tie against French side Lille next month.
Gerrard’s strike – a first since January 2 – was his 33rd in European competition, surpassing the British record previously held by Alan Shearer. And the Liverpool skipper said: “It is always nice to break records from a personal point of view, particularly goal-scoring ones.
Benitez saluted Gerrard’s achievement, and said: “It’s a real positive for him and for the club. It also means we have played a lot of games in Europe, and that’s something we are improving and hopefully we can play more games this year and he can score more goals. It’s very good news for the club. We’re a historic club with a lot of records and to have a new one is massive not only for him but also the club.”
Not good news was the injury to Skrtel, who left the field on a stretcher midway through the second half after coming off worse in a 50-50 challenge with Unirea substitute Antonio Semedo.
The Slovakia international’s injury will be assessed at Melwood today, but Benitez delivered a gloomy initial prognosis last night.
“We don’t know about Skrtel, but it could be a broken foot,” said the Liverpool manager. “It’s bad news, we will have to wait and see but I think it was a bad foul.
“I didn’t see the challenge properly at the time but I’ve been told it was a bad challenge. We have to wait and see. We know it’s not good news but we’ll have to wait.”
Benitez’s side have now lost only one of their last nine games, and the Spaniard was pleased with the reaction of his players to going behind.
Read the article on Liverpool Daily Post
Martin Skrtel’s injury spoils Liverpool FC’s progress in Europa League as Steven Gerrard breaks European goal-scoring record
STEVEN GERRARD celebrated a record-breaking evening as Liverpool eased their way into the last 16 of the Europa League.
But progress came at a cost with the Anfield outfit fearing Martin Skrtel could miss the rest of the season with a suspected broken right foot.
After falling behind to an 18th-minute Bruno Fernandes header, Benitez’s side fought back to beat Unirea Urziceni 3-1 in Bucharest last night and win 4-1 on aggregate.
Goals from Javier Mascherano, Ryan Babel and Gerrard helped set up a tie against French side Lille next month.
Gerrard’s strike – a first since January 2 – was his 33rd in European competition, surpassing the British record previously held by Alan Shearer. And the Liverpool skipper said: “It is always nice to break records from a personal point of view, particularly goal-scoring ones.
Benitez saluted Gerrard’s achievement, and said: “It’s a real positive for him and for the club. It also means we have played a lot of games in Europe, and that’s something we are improving and hopefully we can play more games this year and he can score more goals. It’s very good news for the club. We’re a historic club with a lot of records and to have a new one is massive not only for him but also the club.”
Not good news was the injury to Skrtel, who left the field on a stretcher midway through the second half after coming off worse in a 50-50 challenge with Unirea substitute Antonio Semedo.
The Slovakia international’s injury will be assessed at Melwood today, but Benitez delivered a gloomy initial prognosis last night.
“We don’t know about Skrtel, but it could be a broken foot,” said the Liverpool manager. “It’s bad news, we will have to wait and see but I think it was a bad foul.
“I didn’t see the challenge properly at the time but I’ve been told it was a bad challenge. We have to wait and see. We know it’s not good news but we’ll have to wait.”
Benitez’s side have now lost only one of their last nine games, and the Spaniard was pleased with the reaction of his players to going behind.
