Liverpool’s season took another turn for the worse last night after it was confirmed that Steven Gerrard, their captain and talisman, had suffered an injury that could curtail his involvement during the critical weeks ahead.

Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, will sit down with Gerrard today to discuss how best to manage the midfield player’s latest groin problem after scans revealed that he had strained an adductor muscle during his team’s 3-1 defeat by Chelsea in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final at Anfield on Wednesday.

There must be doubts about whether Gerrard will be fit enough to play in the Barclays Premier League game at home to Blackburn Rovers tomorrow. Given the troublesome nature of the injury, if Benítez does decide to gamble on his captain’s fitness there is the risk of him being unavailable for the second leg against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday or longer if there is an adverse reaction.

Benítez must decide whether he views the Premier League as offering a more realistic chance of silverware than the European Cup. Only a comeback of Istanbul proportions — when Liverpool came from 3-0 down at half-time in the Champions League final against AC Milan in 2005 to draw level and win on penalties — will be enough to see them through to the last four.

With Manchester United playing Sunderland at the Stadium of Light at 3pm tomorrow, Liverpool have another opportunity to pile the pressure on their title rivals and move two points clear at the top — even if it is only for a few hours — should they beat Blackburn Rovers at Anfield in the day’s lunchtime kick-off.

Although Gerrard has not suffered a tear to the adductor, as he did during the 2-0 league win away to Bolton Wanderers in November — the precursor to an unseemly dispute between Benítez and Fabio Capello, the England manager — the injury is difficult to treat other than by getting rest. This is a luxury neither Gerrard nor Liverpool have at this stage of the season.

Liverpool have experience in dealing with adductor injuries in recent years. In addition to Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Yossi Benayoun suffered from groin problems last year, while Harry Kewell’s involvement in the 2006 World Cup finals with Australia was almost jeopardised by an adductor problem that the former Liverpool winger suffered during the FA Cup Final win against West Ham United a month earlier.

José Manuel Reina is refusing to give up hope that Liverpool can overturn the 3-1 deficit against Chelsea, but the goalkeeper has accepted that the Premier League may now be the club’s best chance of a trophy this season. He gives his team only a slight chance of prevailing at Stamford Bridge, though.

“I would say it is more or less 85 to 15 per cent against us qualifying now and it is going to be tough, but we won 4-1 [against Manchester United in the league] at Old Trafford a few weeks ago and we have it within us to do it again,” Reina said. “We have to beat Blackburn because in the league we cannot afford to lose any more points. We have to keep the pressure on.”