(Last line - FSP to Aberdeen on loan?)
Gerrard out as Sofia handed UEFA fine
Aug 22 2005
By Ian Doyle Daily Post Staff
STEVEN GERRARD has been ruled out of Liverpool's Champions League clash with CSKA Sofia tomorrow.
The midfielder will miss the third qualifying round second leg tie at Anfield after suffering a calf injury during Saturday's 1-0 home win over Sunderland.
Gerrard was forced off after 55 minutes, and a scan yesterday revealed he may also miss Friday's UEFA Super Cup final against CSKA Moscow.
Liverpool spokesman Ian Cotton confirmed: "Steven had a scan which showed a strain in his right calf. He will definitely miss Tuesday's game.
"Regarding his involvement in the Super Cup, we will have a better idea later in the week."
Peter Crouch, who has been sidelined with a hamstring injury, could return for Friday's game in Monaco.
CSKA Sofia have been fined almost £14,000 by the UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body following the behaviour of their supporters in the first leg in Sofia.
The UEFA observer noted racist abuse aimed at Djibril Cisse during the latter stages of the game, with boos turning into "monkey noise" for the final 12 minutes.
Meanwhile, Marseille have declared their interest in the 24-year-old, although with Cisse happy to stay at Anfield and the French club struggling for funds, any deal seems unlikely.
Marseille president Pape Diouf said: "If such an opportunity came our way then we would seize it. But the cup is still a long way from our lips."
Marseille could tempt Liverpool into a deal involving centre-back Abdoulaye Meite, with Benitez having report-edly been tracking the Ivory Coast international.
Lyon denied reports last week of an interest in Cisse but are waiting to hear if their £8.5million bid for Milan Baros has proven successful with Aston Villa their only rivals for the Czech striker's signature.
Meanwhile, Sami Hyypia has insisted Liverpool are "not panicking" after they struggled to victory against Sunderland at the weekend.
Xabi Alonso's fine 24th-minute free-kick was all that separated the sides, and Hyypia admitted: "We were not at our best. But in two weeks, people will look at this as a
0 win and nothing else. We got away with it. We did not work well enough as a team and that made it more difficult.
"Teams will come to Anfield and play five across the middle and we have to got to find a way of breaking them down, something we did not do well on Saturday.
"We all know that we can do so much better. There was a lack of ideas and we did not create enough. It was not so much down to the strikers, we could not find the best penetrating balls. The supply was not good enough.
"But no-one is panicking. At the end of the day it was a job done."
Hyypia added that Liverpool's performance improved once manager Rafael Benitez opted to play two up front during the second half. "I thought that we did better when we had strikers up front alongside each other in the second half and we got the ball to them better," added the Finn.
"The expectations have certainly been raised by what happened in Istanbul. We are aware of that.
"The supporters now want to see us going for the title and we will have to play better than we did on Saturday to achieve that.
"People thought that we would be fitter because our season started so much earlier, but I do not know how that will work in the long run. I don't know how that will affect us around Christmas.
"We have got a better squad this season and we should be more consistent and even if we get some injuries we will be able to cope.
"The manager has said there are one or two more coming in and they will help make us better."
* SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE side Aberdeen want to take Liverpool youngster Florent Sinama-Pongolle on loan.
