Soccer:Liverpool will be without captain Steven Gerrard and striker Fernando Torres for their Europa League play-off second-leg tie against Trabzonspor in Turkey tomorrow. Gerrard has a back problem while manager Roy Hodgson has decided not to risk Torres in a third successive game following his injury problems last season.
Defender Daniel Agger (concussion) and Maxi Rodriguez (illness) are also absent from the squad which travels to Turkey this morning with a 1-0 lead from the first leg.
Joe Cole, still serving a domestic suspension, returns to the squad after missing Monday’s Premier League defeat at Manchester City while Javier Mascherano has also been left out in the wake of a bid from Barcelona earlier this week.
Mascherano has reportedly suffered a backlash from his own teammates after he pulled out of the Liverpool team to play Manchester City.
The player was described as not being 'in the right frame of mind' to face City, and was therefore left out of Hodgson's starting line-up.
Mascherano's withdrawal wrecked Hodgson's carefully planned tactics as the manager worked on a 4-2-3-1 formation with Mascherano and Lucas Leiva anchoring the midfield, in order to combat City's strength in the middle of the pitch.
However, with Christian Poulsen apparently deemed not ready to start such a big Premier League match, Hodgson was forced to deploy a 4-4-2 system that left Liverpool exposed.
A 'club source' said: "The senior players at the club were seriously hacked off with Mascherano on Monday night and that was clear when he arrived back on Tuesday.
"There are players in that squad who are Liverpool through and through and they were fuming at what Mascherano did."
The Argentinian did train at Melwood yesterday, but reportedly did so alone. Barcelona made a bid for Mascherano on Monday, which was swiftly rejected by the club.
Hodgson said of the offer: "Unfortunately the fee the club thinks is the correct fee and the fee we are being offered are very far apart. Unless that can be resolved he might be unhappy for a long time to come."
Liverpool team (from): Reina, Johnson, Kelly, Skrtel, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Aurelio, Cole, Spearing, Poulsen, Lucas, Pacheco, Shelvey, Babel, Kuyt, Ngog, Eccleston, Gulacsi, Hansen.