Steven Gerrard to undergo groin surgery today
STEVEN GERRARD has been ruled out of Liverpool's trip to Aston Villa on Sunday - as he will have an operation on his groin today.
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez confirmed his captain will be out for "10 to 15 days" despite him playing the full two hours of Liverpool's Champions League third qualifying round win over Standard Liege last night.
Following a second successive 0-0 draw against the Belgian champions, Liverpool needed a Dirk Kuyt winner three minutes from the end of extra time to progress to the group stages.
Which left Benitez a relieved man just to make it through considering the condition his captain was in during the entire game.
"He has had a problem and we knew he would have to have an operation," said Benitez.
"It will be 10 to 15 days, not too much, but at the end of the day he needs to do it because it is too difficult.
"When he went away with the national team he had a problem, which was from the first leg of this tie.
"We were talking and talking with him and the doctor but he said he would play with the pain then have the operation."
Gerrard now faces a race to be fit for the meeting with Manchester United at Anfield on September but is unlikely to make England's World Cup qualifiers in Andorra and Croatia prior to that.
Benitez's priority is to plan for the game at Villa without Gerrard as he welcomes back returning Olympians Lucas Leiva and Javier Mascherano to the fold.
He is also hoping to tie up the signature of Espanyol winger Albert Riera before the weekend.
Benitez denied a deal had been done following the game
but chief executive Rick Parry is due in Spain to finalise the transfer.
Liverpool, despite another worrying display, are now in the group stages draw today (5pm) in Monaco.
Benitez said: "Obviously there is some relief with the result. We knew it would be a difficult game against a quick, well-organised team.
"The positive was that we played a little better than recently, we want to win trophies but we also understand the need for money.
"I was delighted that Dirk Kuyt scored the goal. His work is tremendous, he keeps going right to the end and makes a tremendous contribution to our side."
Liege coach Laszlo Boloni said: "We are very sad after that result. Over two matches we have been the best organised team and we deserved better than to lose like that in the final minutes.
"We have produced a high standard in both matches.
"I sometimes wondered whether the referee was affected by the fact that we were playing a big team. I felt we should have had a couple of penalties.
"But in the end we created a lot of good situations in both matches and did not make use of them."
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