Andy Carroll set to make his European debut for Liverpool – EPL news
Liverpool striker Andy Carroll is expected to make his European debut for the Reds Europa League match against Sporting Braga on Thursday.
The striker is likely to start from the bench despite playing the last 15 minutes in Liverpool’s latest win over Manchester United.
Liverpool’s head of sports medicine and sports science Dr. Peter Brukner confirmed that the 22-year-old striker would feature in the upcoming fixture as a substitute.
He said, “He'll play some more minutes against Braga and hopefully he'll be involved more and more with each game. Overall, we are really happy with his progress. The physio and fitness guys have worked really hard with Andy and to his credit he's
not shirked the issue. It was very frustrating for him not being able to be out there with the other players.”
Liverpool broke all the previous records to sign Andy Carroll from Newcastle United for £35 million on the deadline day of the January 2011 transfer window to replace http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 on the same evening.
Carroll was suffering from a thigh injury when he joined http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 and he is yet to recover completely from the injury. The 22-year-old attacker made his Liverpool debut in a recent win over Manchester United and played for the first time in over two
months.
The former Newcastle United striker came on in the 75th minute against Manchester United when Liverpool were already leading by three goals. Carroll almost scored from his first touch, when he headed the ball which was miraculously
saved by United keeper Edwin van der Sar.
Dr. Brukner was pleased to see Andy Carroll playing for the first time since joining Liverpool and predicted that the striker would be fully fit in a few days.
Brukner said, “He came through the game well. He has had a very long rehabilitation programme. We were really determined to build him up slowly and just get him a lot stronger to cope with the load. He had full training last week and had his 16 minutes
on Sunday. Unless anything goes wrong between now and Thursday, we'll expect him to play for a longer period of time.”
Andy Carroll became the most expensive British and the eighth most expensive player in the world since making his £35 million move to Liverpool. He is yet to score for the Merseyside club; however, he already has 9 Premier League goals to his credit
in the ongoing 2010-11 season.
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