Kuyt injury annoys Rafa

Last updated : 10 October 2006 By Al Campbell
Kuyt injured his ankle while playing for Holland on Saturday and could be ruled out of Liverpool's next three or four games. Rafa Benitez admits to being annoyed by the injury and believes there are too many international games.

"If Kuyt is a doubt for Wednesday, it means he is not fit," said the Reds' boss.

"They were talking about seeing if he can play. If he plays, he may miss the next three or four games for Liverpool, including Blackburn, the Champions League and Manchester United.

"Our doctor spoke to the Dutch doctor yesterday and they said he would have a scan.

"When people talk about the national teams, no-one ever talks about the money they make, it's always about the pride of playing for your country.

"If Kuyt misses many games and Crouch gets injured, it means we may not win as many games as we would. Last season we had a situation where Riise was injured in a friendly for Norway and missed the Champions League game with Benfica.

"Where was our compensation? The national associations should pay.

"I believe they should pay 50 per cent of a player's wage when they play for their country, and 100 per cent if they are injured, for as long as they can't play a competitive game.

"Spain are playing a friendly with Argentina on Wednesday? Why? Maybe it would be different if they had to pay 50 per cent of their salaries.

"As a manager, I would prefer to have Kuyt return fit than be compensated, but this is a big problem.

"We will have two days to work with the players before the game on Saturday.

"Instead of playing agame on Saturday and Wednesday, they should be playing Wednesday and then Saturday, so we still have a week to prepare."

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