Fabio Capello risked straining his relationship with the Liverpool manager, Rafael Benítez, last night by insisting that Steven Gerrard link up with the England squad at their Hertfordshire hotel despite the midfielder having apparently been ruled out by his club for up to 10 days with a torn muscle in his right leg.
Gerrard, who sustained the injury at Bolton, reported to the 23-man squad and will be assessed by England's own medical staff today, with the likelihood of him travelling to Germany tomorrow for Wednesday's friendly at the Olympic stadium in Berlin still slim. A statement released by Liverpool suggested a scan undertaken yesterday had revealed "a tear in the adductor magnus muscle in his right leg", a prognosis the Football Association's medical team will look into today.
The Liverpool captain played the full 90 minutes in the 2-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers on Saturday, scoring the decisive goal with 17 minutes remaining, and may play in the next Premier League game against Fulham on Saturday after the club's spokesman, Ian Cotton, said the injury would keep him out "between seven to 10 days".
The timing of Wednesday's friendly has prompted criticism from Premier League managers and Capello's insistence to consider Gerrard's fitness at first hand will be seen as the national coach flexing his muscles as familiar club and country tensions flare, particularly after Liverpool scheduled surgery for Gerrard on a groin problem which forced the midfielder to miss the qualifiers against Andorra and Croatia in September.
Capello is well within his rights to call up the player but Benítez is unlikely to have been impressed at seeing his captain forced to travel down from Merseyside, particularly after the FA readily accepted the Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart's withdrawal with an ankle ligament injury sustained at Hull City yesterday.
