Steven Gerrard is back to face Real Madrid in tomorrow's Champions League game after being sidelined for almost three weeks with a hamstring injury.

The Liverpool captain trained yesterday and is expected to fly out to Madrid for the first leg of the opening knockout round. He was close to a return for Sunday's Premier League 1-1 draw with Manchester City but manager Rafa Benitez decided not to risk him.

"Steven will be in the squad. He was OK in training this morning," Benitez said yesterday. "It was a special training session so we were not testing him 100 per cent, but he trained OK so we will see."

Gerrard's last game for the Reds was the 4 February FA Cup replay loss to Everton.