RAFAEL BENITEZ nursed his walking wounded today as Liverpool travelled to France for their crunch Champions League clash with Lyon.
Steven Gerrard, Martin Kelly, Martin Skrtel and Albert Riera will miss tomorrow's Group E match, a game Liverpool must win to maintain any hopes of reaching the last 16.
Glen Johnson (calf), Daniel Agger (back), Fabio Aurelio (calf) and David Ngog (ankle) are major doubts.
Liverpool's injury situation is so bad manager Benitez may take all four with him to the Stade Gerland, even if there is just a chance they will recover enough to be involved.
Benitez seems set on a major gamble on Fernando Torres and £20million new boy Alberto Aquilani, who has yet to start a match for his new club.
Without Gerrard, Benitez is considering using the pair as Liverpool's main attackers against the side who won 2-1 at Anfield.
Torres has a groin problem and was taken off after an hour at Fulham on Saturday, a game Liverpool lost 3-1.
Benitez said: "We have to take Fernando to Lyon because we don't have too many options. We must keep working with him and the other players.
"We are trying to manage because he was close to having an operation. Two days after the game, he is not comfortable. He has not got the power he had.
"He cannot play well if you keep pushing him, maybe if you push him he will be injured for a long time."
Aquilani had a virus, but trained yesterday. Benitez said: "He was a bit weak, hopefully he will be better for the match."
Such is the crisis that, not including Torres and Aquilani, Liverpool have 17 fit players for the trip, three of them keepers.
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