Liverpool (1) v Toulouse (0):Steve McClaren received an ominous injury warning ahead of the European Championship qualifiers that could decide his and England's fate when the Liverpool manager, Rafael Benitez, said last night Steven Gerrard must prove his fitness for the club before being released for his country.

The England vice-captain has not taken part in full training for nine days at Liverpool as he recovers from a hairline toe fracture and will be absent tonight when the club attempts to secure a place in the Champions League group stage at the expense of Toulouse.

Gerrard has only one more competitive fixture to confirm his recovery before England face their critical double-header against Israel on September 8th and Russia on September 12th, and though the midfielder is confident of facing Derby on Saturday, Benitez is adamant the final decision on whether he plays at Anfield and is then fit to join the England squad will be his and his alone.

The Spaniard has made it clear he will not jeopardise Liverpool's season for the sake of international football. Gerrard suffered the fracture during the first leg against Toulouse on August 15th and, though he produced a man-of-the-match performance against Chelsea four days later, the 27-year-old has been unable to train competitively since.

Liverpool take a 1-0 lead into the second leg but will also be without Jamie Carragher as he recovers from a broken rib sustained against Sunderland on Saturday.

Carragher will be out for at least a fortnight and, although the international break cushions the blow for Liverpool, Benitez is attempting to sign a centre half before Friday's transfer deadline.

Benitez will, however, have the defender Sami Hyypia available despite the Finn breaking his nose at Sunderland, with Alvaro Arbeloa a possible stand-in at centre-back.

Peter Crouch is expected to return to the starting line-up tonight after being omitted from the squad at Sunderland. He has played only seven minutes of league football this season, as a late substitute against Chelsea, but Benitez has denied Crouch has been forced down the pecking order by Fernando Torres and Andriy Voronin.

"I don't look at the strikers in a ranking of one to four," said Benitez. "What is key is the understanding of the strikers with the other players, their form, the other team."

Benitez refused to be drawn on allegations from Alex Ferguson that Liverpool had "tapped up" Gabriel Heinze before his exit from Manchester United to Real Madrid.

"I am only concerned about Toulouse but he has been working in England for 21 years and he has more experience than me - in everything," he said.

Meanwhile, Walter Smith has called on his Rangers players to be inspired by the volatile atmosphere in a packed Marakana Stadium in Belgrade this evening (Setanta Sports 1), where they take a 1-0 lead into their third qualifying round second leg against Crvena Zvezda.

Smith will make a late decision on the fitness of striker Daniel Cousin, who has travelled despite carrying a calf injury. Braham Hemdani is likely to return to the Rangers midfield while Lee McCulloch has recovered from illness.