That's a big loss.
Liverpool's Martin Skrtel ruled out for up to eight weeks
• Liverpool defender unavailable until end of April
• Player will not need surgery on broken toe
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 2 March 2010 00.51 GMT Article history
Martin Skrtel will be out for up to eight weeks with a broken metatarsal he sustained against Unirea Urziceni last week.
Liverpool said the defender would be absent for most of the rest of the season with the injury to his right foot.
Skrtel will not need surgery, the club said on their website, but the recovery process means he will be unavailable to Rafael BenÃtez until the end of April.
The 25-year-old Slovakian had to be substituted midway through the second half of Liverpool's 3-1 Europa League win in Bucharest.
Liverpool are poised to offer Javier Mascherano a two-year contract extension that will keep him at Anfield until 2014 and out of the clutches of Barcelona. The Spanish club have declared their interest for the Liverpool midfielder after Pep Guardiola, their coach, identified the Argentina captain as the perfect foil for Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta almost a year ago.
Talks are continuing and Liverpool are hopeful the player will agree to stay beyond February 2012, when his present deal expires