GERRARD NOMINATED FOR PFA AWARD

James Carroll 14 April 2009

Steven Gerrard has been nominated for the PFA Players' Player of the Year.

The Liverpool skipper is the only non-Manchester United player on the six-man shortlist and joins Edwin van der Sar, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs and last year's winner Cristiano Ronaldo in the running for the honour.

Gerrard, who won the award in 2006, has been in sensational form for the Reds this season, with the 28-year-old netting 21 goals.

Speaking about Gerrard's nomination, PFA Chief Executive Gordon Taylor said: "Steven has been a personal favourite of mine for a long time now and I have the utmost respect and admiration for the way he continues to go about his business, as an influential midfield player, a talisman if you like, for club and country.

"I remember when he won the Young Player of the Year award in 2001 he told me that, whilst he was proud to win that particular award, he would not be satisfied until he had won the main prize, and that said a lot about his ambition and dedication.

"He went on to win the Players' Player award in 2006 and fully deserves to be amongst the nominees again this year.

"He is not only a top class player and captain, he is a top class lad too and a credit to his profession.

"He is a real Roy of the Rovers performer who, on so many occasions when Liverpool have perhaps looked down and out, he has pulled them through virtually single-handed and I don't think many people would argue with the comments made by Zinedine Zidane that Steve is the best midfield player in the world."

RAFA: THIS CAN INSPIRE PL GLORY

Jimmy Rice at Stamford Bridge 14 April 2009

Rafa Benitez believes his side's gallant defeat to Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-finals could inspire them to Premier League glory.

The Reds almost completed a remarkable turnaround after the 3-1 first leg loss with first-half strikes from Fabio Aurelio and Xabi Alonso.

Two goals for Chelsea early in the second half then looked to have ended the tie before Lucas and Dirk Kuyt once again stunned Stamford Bridge.

Hopes of a miracle comeback were only dashed in the 89th minute when Frank Lampard netted his second of the game to make it 4-4 on the night (7-5 on aggregate).

Benitez told reporters afterwards: "We showed character and quality and we have to be really proud. The players have done a fantastic job and the fans will be really pleased with the team.

"We were on top of them from the beginning. Credit must go to all the players, especially Lucas in the middle. In the position of Steven Gerrard he worked extremely hard. The players were pushing and pushing and we were very close.

"I think, clearly, when you lose you have to be disappointed but when you lose in this way you have to be proud and have your head up.

"Thinking about the Premier League, maybe it's positive because if we can score four goals here at Stamford Bridge, we can do the same in any stadium. We can win a lot of games with this mentality."

Benitez believes Liverpool were undone by a handful of mistakes in what was otherwise a memorable performance.

"When you play against a good side like Chelsea and make a mistake, you pay," he said. "Clearly we attacked and were controlling but with one or two mistakes they scored."

Benitez was quizzed on the absence of skipper Gerrard from his matchday squad.

"He felt something in his adductor so he wasn't available," he said. "It was an easy decision - he couldn't play."

Benitez believes Gerrard will recover in time to face Arsenal in the Premier League in a week's time.

"I think so," said the boss. "It's not serious. We thought he could be available today but in the end he wasn't."

On the substitution of Fernando Torres 10 minutes from time with the aggregate score 6-3, Benitez added: "Torres is okay. I thought it would be difficult so I wanted to change something and give minutes to a player with quality like Ngog."