Benitez defends Gerrard
March 10, 2010Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has defender his captain, Steven Gerrard, claiming he was not guilty of making V-sign towards referee Andre Marriner during the defeat to Wigan.
The Reds captain was booked in the 81st minute of Monday's game at the DW Stadium and appeared to gesture and mouth an obscenity in the direction of the match official.
It was reported that the Football Association was set to investigate the incident, but Benitez, does not think that Gerrard has a case to answer.
The Reds boss said: "Sometimes you move your fingers. It was nothing. We are not considering it, it was nothing.
"All the players know they have to behave on the pitch. I was more worried about the silly fouls we were giving to Wigan."
Benitez is relieved Liverpool have an opportunity to get back to winning ways quickly as they travel to Lille in the Europa League on Thursday.
He said: "We had been working well in the last 10 games, more or less. Sometimes these things happen. Now we have to move forward.
"Hopefully there will be a reaction in Lille. This is an opportunity to put things right and try to get a good result.
"In football you sometimes prefer to rest but at this time it is good to have a match quickly after what happened at Wigan."
Fulham's Europa League adventure continues at Italian giants Juventus in the last 16 - see the 1st leg betting here.
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