Gerrard return boosts Reds’ Champions League survival odds

Liv­er­pool have been given a boost ahead of their cru­cial Cham­pi­ons League tie with Debre­cen by the news that cap­tain Steven Ger­rard should be back for the game.

The club cur­rently sit in third place in Group E on four points and are five behind Fiorentina in sec­ond place with only two games remaining.

Liv­er­pool travel to Hun­gary for the game with Debre­cen on Novem­ber 24th and then could face a crunch final match against the Ital­ians at Anfield on Decem­ber 9th.

They need to win both games to upset the Cham­pi­ons League foot­ball odds and qual­ify from the group, and hope Lyon do them a favour and beat Fiorentina next week, and should be boosted by the return of inspi­ra­tional mid­fielder Ger­rard, who has been strug­gling with a groin injury for the last month.

Ger­rard is look­ing to return to the first team for this weekend’s Pre­mier League game with Man­ches­ter City and is aim­ing to inspire his side, as they have lost five league matches already this season.

The Eng­land mid­fielder has said: “I’ve had a prob­lem in my groin that has taken a while to get over but I’m just relieved the sec­ond injec­tion seems to have done the trick.

“I’m feel­ing good now, a lot stronger than before and it’s just a ques­tion of get­ting my match sharp­ness back now. That is the most impor­tant thing.”

The return of Ger­rard will be invalu­able to boss Rafa Ben­itez as he could have faced a mid­field dilemma as both Yossi Benay­oun and Albert Riera are expected to be miss­ing for at least the next three weeks.

Liv­er­pool fans will also be buoyed by the news that Fer­nando Tor­res is expected to begin train­ing in the next few days as he con­tin­ues his recov­ery from treat­ment on a groin injury.