UPDATE -  UEFA has charged Marseille over the incident and the club will be required to attend a December 11th meeting with UEFA’s Control and Disciplinary Panel.

This will be the second time Marseille will be charged by the Panel after their September 15,000 Euro fine following an identical situation at the Stade Velodrome against Liverpool.

Just a couple of weeks after Chelsea’s Didier Drogba was suspended by the English FA following the “coin tossing” incident, a thrown cigarette lighter thrown by traveling Marseille fans at Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard will be investigated by UEFA.

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England International and Liverpool’s heart and soul, Steven Gerrard is set to miss a couple of matches that could include England qualifiers after Rafa Benitez confirmed the midfielder needs surgery on his groin.

The 28 year old is set to have the operation on Thursday and will need somewhere in the region of 10 - 15 days of recovery time, meaning he could miss matches against Aston Villa on Sunday, England duty at home against Andorra, away four days later at Croatia and finally against Manchester United on September 13th.

“He has a groin problem, we knew it could be like this. He had a problem and now he will have an operation and will be out for 10-15 days.

“He needs to have it because he is having pain with it. When he went with the national team we knew he had a problem and in the first leg too,” said Benitez.
image via Towleroad

Nice…

Not too many people (including the announcers) noticed this when it happened during Chelsea’s Semi-Final Champions League win the other night, but Beans and I sure did.

I love the look on Avram Grant’s face when he knows roughly 75% of the cameras in Stamford Bridge are on him the exact moment.  He looked like he didn’t know whether to be really pissed off, exaggerate the fall just a bit more, grab his face and roll on the ground or just put his hands behind his head, kick his feet up and pimp relax.

At least the referee didn’t try to make anything more of it and ruin a great game.

image via DailyMail

Liverpool and now England captain Steven Gerrard might be focusing on tonight’s clash against Switzerland, but his missus Alex is in Dubai.  She’s not by herself though, she’s with Thierry Henry’s estranged wife Claire and Djibril Cisse’s pregnant ex-wife Jude.  That’s gotta make for some interesting conversations.

It might be for only one match, but when England is walking out of the tunnel at Wembley tomorrow, Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard will be at the front. While John Terry has to be dissapointed, Gerrard’s pure work ethic and attacking ability is the perfect example of the type of two way players England will need to succeed under Fabio “The Don” Capello.

With all that is going on at Liverpool right now, it got me thinking about how much focus and energy is put on the economic side of the sport.  Things for Liverpool are looking bleak, and I think it’s gonna get worse before it gets better.  I don’t want to go into things too much with their current situation, instead I want to focus on why we love soccer in the first place, and it’s because of dudes like Steven Gerrard.  Here I present you with a montage of some of his finest goals.

image via The Sun

There was no way the boys from Liverpool were gonna pull a United party this year.  The 1st team had their mandatory annual dress up Xmas party at Jaime Carraghers’ restaurant and you gotta give it to Steve-o for most thought out piece of equipment of the night.  Guess you can do that when you’re making 90,000 pound a week and deserving every pence.

(image via soccerfiesta.net)

Steven Gerrard did again, dropping 3 on Luton in a 5-0 FA Cup demolition.  This sickest substitute in the game, Dutchman Ryan Babel put a bulge in just before halftime, with the Fin Sami Hyypia getting one in the 57th.  Looks like Rafa’s job is still safe for now.