New Delhi: Rafael Benitez has been taken back into hospital for a further operation on the kidney stones that have been troubling him recently. The Liverpool manager underwent surgery on the problem prior to Christmas and this operation will be his third.
Assistant manager Sammy Lee will be left in charge of team affairs whilst his boss is being treated but the Spaniard's No. 2 is optimistic that Benitez will be back on the bench for the upcoming Merseyside derbies with Everton.
"It's a difficult time for him because you know Rafa Benitez, all he wants to do is be out there on the training pitch with his players," Lee told the club's official website.
"He's going for the third operation but we're hoping it won't keep him out for too long, hopefully just a couple of days."
And Lee insists that the absence of the Liverpool gaffer will have little impact on how the team performs, for the simple reason that Benitez's preparation is meticulous and all details and routines are carefully in place.
"All credit to Rafa for what he’s put in place. His attention to detail and organisation means that, if any one of us is missing, there won’t be a blip," Lee explained, before defiantly asserting that the Reds are still very much in the title race, despite the disappointment of the weekend's goalless draw with Stoke City.
"A lot of pundits have said there’s only one team that can win the league - and I don’t buy into that, either. You can’t rule teams out in January," Lee told the club’s official website, www.liverpoolfc.tv.
"We can’t keep looking over our shoulders. We have got to do what we have got to do," the former Liverpool midfielder added.
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