He was visiting a specialist in Belgium to discover whether immediate surgery is needed but even if he does not require an operation, it would seem to be a problem that could raise its head again at any stage.

For that reason, Sven-Goran Eriksson, who also lost Kieron Dyer to injury yesterday just as Gary Neville went before him, may not reasonably count on Gerrard for the whole tournament.

However, the Swede was determined not to jump to any conclusions before hearing the specialist’s verdict either later today or possibly even tomorrow.

Eriksson said: ‘‘Liverpool have been worried about this situation since February but it is actually much bigger than they thought.

‘‘Many times, Steven was left out because of injury and I guess it was always more or less the same problem.

‘‘I have spoken to him and of course he is very down and worried. But the best thing, and he said it himself, is that he sees the specialist and then we talk about what is happening.

‘‘Even if he doesn’t need to have an operation, we will have to see how quickly he could be fit again and what the chances are that he suffer another problem in a game.’’