Rafa Benitez insisted he had made his peace with England coach Fabio Capello yesterday and dismissed claims of a breakdown in communication over Steven Gerrard's latest injury absence.
Gerrard will have the second of two minor groin operations today and will miss Capello's first two competitive games in charge, as England begin their World Cup campaign against Andorra next Saturday and Croatia four days later.
Capello was reportedly unhappy at being kept in the dark over Liverpool's decision to arrange surgery for their skipper in the immediate aftermath of Wednesday night's Champions League qualifying round win over Standard Liege.
He phoned Liverpool's Melwood training ground for an explanation, and Benitez held clear-the-air talks with the Italian. 'I spoke with Fabio this morning, and he asked me what was going on,' he said. 'I know him well from his AC Milan days, and we had a good conversation, a positive one. I explained the timing to him, and he knows what we did was in the best interests of the player, Liverpool and England.
'Stevie was struggling and playing in pain, and it was clear he could not have gone on like that. If he had, he would have risked doing more damage and being out longer. I explained this to Fabio and he accepted it.
'It was impossible to delay it any longer. It needed doing as quickly as possible and our doctor was in contact with the England doctors to tell them what was happening. He had a small operation today and will have another tomorrow, but you shouldn't read anything into that. It is a minor procedure, and the recovery period is the same as we said on Wednesday.
'It should be around 15 days, and, as well as missing the two England qualifiers, it is going to be very close for our game with Manchester United on September 13.'
Any arguments over Owen Hargreaves' availability for Andorra and Croatia were finally ended when he withdrew from Manchester United's Super Cup meeting with Zenit St Petersburg in Monaco.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson had risked Capello's wrath by planning to use Hargreaves for 45 minutes but claiming he would not be fit for England duty, due to a long-standing knee problem.
The likelihood of another club versus country row subsided, though, when the midfielder aggravated the injury in training.
Gerrard will have the second of two minor groin operations today and will miss Capello's first two competitive games in charge, as England begin their World Cup campaign against Andorra next Saturday and Croatia four days later.
Capello was reportedly unhappy at being kept in the dark over Liverpool's decision to arrange surgery for their skipper in the immediate aftermath of Wednesday night's Champions League qualifying round win over Standard Liege.
He phoned Liverpool's Melwood training ground for an explanation, and Benitez held clear-the-air talks with the Italian. 'I spoke with Fabio this morning, and he asked me what was going on,' he said. 'I know him well from his AC Milan days, and we had a good conversation, a positive one. I explained the timing to him, and he knows what we did was in the best interests of the player, Liverpool and England.
'Stevie was struggling and playing in pain, and it was clear he could not have gone on like that. If he had, he would have risked doing more damage and being out longer. I explained this to Fabio and he accepted it.
'It was impossible to delay it any longer. It needed doing as quickly as possible and our doctor was in contact with the England doctors to tell them what was happening. He had a small operation today and will have another tomorrow, but you shouldn't read anything into that. It is a minor procedure, and the recovery period is the same as we said on Wednesday.
'It should be around 15 days, and, as well as missing the two England qualifiers, it is going to be very close for our game with Manchester United on September 13.'
Any arguments over Owen Hargreaves' availability for Andorra and Croatia were finally ended when he withdrew from Manchester United's Super Cup meeting with Zenit St Petersburg in Monaco.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson had risked Capello's wrath by planning to use Hargreaves for 45 minutes but claiming he would not be fit for England duty, due to a long-standing knee problem.
The likelihood of another club versus country row subsided, though, when the midfielder aggravated the injury in training.
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