Key players out for under-pressure Liverpool

Captain Steven Gerrard and striker Fernando Torres are among the key players missing for Liverpool as the English side battles to make it into the group stage of the Europa League.

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By (AP)

Published: Wed 25 Aug 2010, 6:10 PM

Last updated: Mon 6 Apr 2015, 3:55 AM

The five-time European champions head to Turkey for the second leg of their qualifying playoff against Trabzonspor protecting a narrow 1-0 lead from the first match.

Gerrard has a back problem, Torres will not be risked as he builds up his fitness after recent injury problems while Daniel Agger and Maxi Rodriguez are also out. Holding midfielder Javier Mascherano is missing while he is the subject of a bid from Barcelona.

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson can recall new signing Joe Cole from domestic suspension but is expecting his makeshift side to be put under heavy pressure by Trabzonspor.

‘We missed a golden opportunity to kill the game off at Anfield and now we’ve got it all to do,’ Hodgson said. ‘It’s going to be a very tough ask for the players in a difficult place.

‘They are one of the two or three best teams in Turkey at the moment and Turkish football is of a very high standard. Everyone who’s been to Trabzon tells me it’s a remarkably difficult place to play.’

Former European champions PSV Eindhoven and Juventus will also be under pressure in the second legs of their playoffs.

Sibir Novosibirsk caused the biggest shock in the first legs by beating PSV, which won the European Cup in 1988, 1-0 in Russia.

The Dutch side is without Francisco Rodriguez, who was sent off in the first leg, and said it would not play Ibrahim Afellay so the midfielder would not be cup-tied ahead of a possible move.

‘It was a very difficult decision,’ PSV technical director Marcel Brands said. ‘But I think it’s in everybody’s best interest that Ibrahim doesn’t play on Thursday.’

Juventus, which is more used to playing in the Champions League rather than Europe’s second-tier competition, will not be taking qualification for granted after only beating Sturm Graz 2-1 in Austria in the first leg.

Elsewhere, Rapid Vienna aims to knock English side Aston Villa out of the tournament in the qualifying rounds for the second straight year. The matchup is delicately poised at 1-1 after the first leg in Vienna.

Manchester City hosts FC Timisoara with a 1-0 lead from the first leg, and both FC Porto and Palermo hold healthy 3-0 cushions ahead of second leg matches against Genk and NK Maribor, respectively.

Turkish team Fenerbahce is 1-0 down after the first leg at PAOK Thessaloniki.

(AP)

Published: Wed 25 Aug 2010, 6:10 PM

Last updated: Mon 6 Apr 2015, 3:55 AM

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