Rafa Benitez rages at FA over England crock Gerrard

Liverpool will demand the FA offer a full explanation after Steven Gerrard lasted just 10 minutes of an England training session.

Manager Rafa Benitez is frustrated that the player was allowed to stay on with the national team, despite picking up a groin injury in the 1-0 defeat in Ukraine at the weekend.

In what could be a devastating blow to Liverpool, the midfielder now faces a race against time to be fit for what is already being described as the Merseyside club's week of destiny, which starts with a visit to Sunderland on Saturday.

Gerrard himself said that he felt he was fit enough to stay with the England squad before the game against Belarus tonight, but the events of yesterday showed that decision to be deeply flawed.

The Liverpool skipper felt the injury almost as soon as he stepped onto the training pitch, and immediately left the England  camp to travel back to Anfield for tests on the extent of the injury.

Benitez will demand to know why the national team's medical staff didn't pick up the seriousness of the problem, given that the player stopped training only a few minutes into the session.

And he is worried that Gerrard himself was pressurised into staying  when he should have been back at Liverpool receiving treatment, because of problems in the past.

Last November, the midfielder was forced to travel to a training camp before a friendly against Germany for assessment by England's medical team, even though he had torn an adductor muscle, and that induced fury in Benitez, who noticed Manchester United players weren't given the same treatment. 

Gerrard was the only injured player made to prove that he was unfit, and there is simmering resentment within Anfield that this time, he stayed on at his country's Hertfordshire base, while Wayne Rooney was immediately sent home with a calf strain also picked up in Kiev.

Liverpool are facing a massive week as they play Sunderland in a must-win game for their title hopes on Saturday before next week’s make-or-break Champions League clash with Lyon, and then a showdown with United. And Benitez was said to be furious yesterday.

But England boss Fabio Capello defended the decision not to send Gerrard back to Liverpool even though Rooney instantly returned to Old Trafford, by explaining it was the player's own choice.

“He stayed with us. We spoke after the game against Ukraine and he thought he’d be fit, perhaps for this game. He practised with us but, after 10 minutes, he felt it," Capello said. 

“It’s not a big problem. He’ll be fit in two or three days. For Saturday when Liverpool play. The manager will decide. They have the Champions League afterwards. Not a big problem. 

“No, no, it was not a mistake he stayed. He decided to stay here. We asked him what he thought, and he thought he’d be fit. If he’d not been fit, he’d have gone home.”