Fernando Torres battles hernia to play against Lyon

The injury situation at Liverpool has become so severe that Rafa Benitez's squad travelling to France for the make-or-break Champions League game against Lyon tomorrow night includes seven players who are injury concerns. The under-pressure Spaniard has already been forced to admit that Steven Gerrard will play no part in the game and may face an operation on his troublesome adductor.

Fernando Torres is the highest profile of the injury worries, although the Spanish international has pledged to play through the pain of his hernia in what could prove to be the most important game for the Anfield club for many years. Also on the plane but carrying niggles are Glen Johnson (calf), Daniel Agger (back), Fabio Aurelio (calf) and David Ngog (ankle). Alberto Aquilani, the £20m summer signing from Roma, missed the weekend defeat at Craven Cottage with a virus but could play from the bench, as could reserve goalkeeper Diego Cavalieri.

Benitez had been criticised after Saturday's game against Fulham for withdrawing Torres on the hour mark when the score was still 1-1, a substitution that arguably led to Liverpool losing their attacking fulcrum and succumbing to an embarrassing 3-1 defeat. But the manager bullishly defended his decision yesterday, revealing the severity of the Spanish international's physical condition.

"We are trying to manage because he [Torres] was close to having an operation," the Liverpool manager said yesterday. "Still this morning, two days after the game, he is feeling something. He is not comfortable. He has not got the power he had before, so we have to manage and try to protect him. He cannot play well if you keep pushing him. Maybe if you push him he will be injured for a long time.

"So I am really surprised with the critics," Benitez continued. "When you talk about big names, people just analyse the names and not how the player is when he is on the pitch. He was not 100 per cent fit. We have to take Fernando to Lyon because we don't have too many options. We have to keep working with him and the rest of the players."

There was support for the embattled manager from a former Anfield legend in the Liverpool Daily Post, where David Fairclough said: "The club is moving in a certain direction, and this season it has been totally in Benitez's hands. So to sack the manager, or even think of sacking the manager, is only going to throw Liverpool backwards. We are going to have to stick with him and hope that we turn things around.

"But I can see Liverpool getting the result they need in Lyon," added Fairclough, who was known as 'supersub' for his habit of scoring important late goals for the team from the bench. "They go there knowing exactly what they have to do, and I believe Liverpool can win in Lyon. They have had situations like this before, and have produced the right results so they are more than capable of doing it again."