Liverpool Daily Post: RAFAEL BENITEZ has earmarked Liverpool’s Champions League dead rubber against Fiorentina as the long-awaited full debut of Alberto Aquilani.
Aquilani has yet to start a game for the Anfield outfit since his £20million summer signing from Roma.
The midfielder underwent an ankle operation earlier in the year and Liverpool have been careful not to rush him back into action.
Aquilani made his debut with a 14-minute cameo from the bench in the Carling Cup defeat at Arsenal in late October, but has since been restricted to minor substitute roles against Birmingham City and Debrecen.
The Italy international was once again an unused substitute at Everton, prompting concerned rumblings from sections of the Liverpool support.
With Liverpool braced for a physical examination at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday, it’s unlikely Aquilani will be risked at Ewood Park.
But the 25-year-old has been tentatively slated for a first start when Fiorentina visit Anfield next Wednesday for the final Champions League group game.
Explaining Aquilani’s lack of action, Benitez said: “It’s more simple than people think. He has been out for longer than we expected and, because he has been injured during the summer, he couldn’t train properly.
“Now it is much better and it is a case of improving his match fitness.
“We want to play him and we thought we might have been able to do that with the reserves at Wigan.
“That was called off (last week) but we had some games at Melwood and he played 45 minutes against our reserves last week.
“We are trying to improve him as quick as we can.
“But when you have a player who is not fit, he is always going to need time to settle in to a game; if the game is tight and he makes mistakes, then you have a problem.
“We want to protect the player but, at the same time, we want to keep winning games; he understands that he needs to be a little bit fitter before e can play.â€
