Benitez expects to call on Torres as Gerrard trains

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez believes he can see light at the end of the tunnel as his players return to fitness, with Steven Gerrard back in training on Friday.

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Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard

Reds skipper Gerrard has managed just 25 minutes for his club in the last month, after a comeback against Lyon at Anfield in the Champions League was aborted midway through the first half.

However, it is more likely that Fernando Torres will feature against Birmingham City on Monday night after he almost completed the midweek draw with Lyon at the Stade de Gerland. It is then expected he will not be called up by Spain for their double header of international friendlies against Argentina and Austria.

Gerrard has trained and also done work with the club's physios and while he will be considered to play against a team with the joint worst scoring record in the Premier League on Monday it is likely that he will be given the international break to fully recover before Manchester City travel to Merseyside on November 21. Gerrard is not thought to be even close to being match fit for England's match against Brazil.

Benitez said: "The injury situation is improving, several players have been in light training and hopefully they will be able to do more over the next few days. Then we will see whether they can be available. There is a big difference, though, between being fit and being available.

"For example, yesterday [Friday] Gerrard was training and working with the physios. Will he be fit or just available? We don't know yet. That is something we will have to look at. For 15 days he has been without training, so can he play? At the moment I do not know.

"Torres has been to Spain to see a specialist and we have discussed it all with our medical staff. He is a little better than he was before. He will train and work with the physios. Whether he will be okay to play against Birmingham, we do not know that either, yet.

"He could play and we must be careful with him. We will look at the situation after every training session. The experience I have had for many years with this sort of problem is to carry on and see how players react. Some players react different.

"Some can play all season with the problem, some need to stop and rest. They are all different. Torres is the one who can play. He has played in pain and he wants to play for the team, he has a great mentality. I believe we can carry on with him.

"I have been very surprised by the criticism of my decisions, people can see that Fernando is not fit. We have had to decide how long he can play and when he must stop.''

Benitez has been stung by criticism of how he has handled Torres' problem, saying: "Sometimes it is clear he is not fully fit. But he is improving. He was much better after playing and scoring against Manchester United, and he was better still after playing and scoring against Fulham.

"And he played for 87 minutes against Lyon, he is still improving. It is not the same assessment for Gerrard, he has not been training with the team. It is totally different because he is clearly not fit and he will need time.

"I have talked to the Spanish people, their technical director and their fitness coach. They have talked to the Spanish manager and they all know that Fernando has to work hard with the physios to improve his condition.

"Let us see how we do in the next game, then they will have 15 days of the international break to get fit, then let's see how they are after that. I have discussed this all with the Spanish staff, it is not an agreement but they know the situation and they know he should not be involved.

"I have not spoken to the England staff, but they will surely know that Steven has not trained for two weeks and clearly cannot be fit for a friendly.''

Benitez revealed he has held talks with his Liverpool bosses over the implications if the club fail to reach the last 16 of this season's Champions League.

He said: "I spoke to Christian Purslow (Liverpool's managing director) the other day about the finances. The first thing, though, is that we have confidence we can still reach the last 16 of the Champions League this season.

"But whatever happens, the budget was done for this season based on us only qualifying for the group stages. And we did that, that is complete.

"Whether we can still bring in more money, we will wait and see. The commercial department is working very hard, for the next season (in Europe) it is a question of time.

"The Premier League is a long race, we must keep going. I am confident the team will finish in the top four and we are able to continue to do well in Europe, so let's start against Birmingham with the right result.

"We have to do our job against Birmingham, and then I can guarantee that things will start to get easier.''