Steven Gerrard has not travelled for the first leg of Liverpool’s Europa League last-16 tie against Braga in Portugal due a groin problem.

The Liverpool captain has been struggling with the niggle over the past few days and has been afforded a period of rest by his manager, rather than taking part in the European encounter on Thursday.

Gerrard has played only 45 minutes of the competition this season, coming off the bench in the home game against Napoli to score a brilliant hat-trick.

Though Gerrard will be absent in Portugal, along with the injured Fabio Aurelio, Martin Kelly and Daniel Agger, record signing Andrew Carroll is expected to make his European debut for the club.

Club doctor Peter Brukner says the £35 million striker will continue his recovery from a groin problem, having appeared as a substitute in the win over United.

“It’s been a long process rehabilitating him – about eight or nine weeks – but we are happy with the result,” Brukner said. “We’ve seen steady improvement over that time; he’s much stronger in that tendon and in general as well.

“We still need to keep working with him and we want to build his training and playing load up to the level required. He’ll play some more minutes against Braga and hopefully he’ll be involved more and more with each game. Overall, we are really happy with his progress.”

Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com

Arsene Wenger and Samir Nasri have been charged by UEFA over their comments to Swiss referee Massimo Busacca following Arsenal’s Champions League defeat to Barcelona.

Both men have been charged with improper conduct for “inappropriate language” directed at the match official in the aftermath of a 3-1 defeat at Camp Nou, according to UEFA. The disciplinary case will be heard on March 17.

Arsenal were infuriated by Busacca’s decision to show a second yellow card to striker Robin van Persie in the second half of the Champions League last-16, second-leg tie.

Having already been booked for pushing Barca defender Dani Alves in the face, Van Persie was adjudged to have kicked the ball away in the second half, despite only a second elapsing between the whistle being blown and Van Persie taking a shot at goal.

Van Persie desperately argued that he had not heard the whistle when playing in front of a crowd in excess of 95,000, but Busacca reduced Arsenal to ten men with 56 minutes gone.

After two goals from Lionel Messi and a strike from Xavi condemned Arsenal to an early exit from the competition, Wenger was involved in a heated confrontation with Busacca. Both he and midfielder Nasri have now been charged by European football’s governing body.

However, there is no indication that Van Persie himself has been charged, despite calling Busacca a “joke” in a post-match interview.

Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com

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