Liverpool's defensive legend Jamie Carragher has publicly shown his support to 20-year-old attacking forward Raheem Sterling, saying that he'll be key when the Reds go head-to-head with Aston Villa later today. The former centre-back, who retired from professional football in 2013, has insisted that Sterling's pace and direct running can cause Tim Sherwood's side some problems as they look to try and book an FA Cup final date with holders Arsenal in May.
Carragher had this to say: "I think Raheem is massively important because he adds that penetration and pace, especially when we don't have Daniel Sturridge playing. We've got a lot of good footballers with [Philippe] Coutinho and [Adam] Lallana in there but Sterling adds that energy, pace and penetration at times we've llacked especially earlier in the season. Before Christmas, he was Liverpool's best player. He had a bit of a dip afterwards, which is to be expected from any young player, but he is vitally important to the Liverpool team."
On Coutinho and Sterling: "If you play for Liverpool, no matter what your age is, you've got to deal with playing in big games, semi-finals and cup finals hopefully. They will have to deal with the expectation of being seen as two of our best players. You want to score goals and you want to create goals on the day, so the onus will be on them. I think they dealt with it fantastically well last season when they were going for the title and in the run-in they were fantastic in some of those games, and now we need it more than most because we rely on them for the team."
Captain and midfielder Steven Gerrard returns to the matchday squad, having completed his three-match suspension for a stamp on Ander Herrera in Liverpool's disappointing 2-1 defeat at home against rivals Manchester United. If the Reds manage to progress to the Wembley final, it'll be on Gerrard's 35th birthday, for a player set to depart English football at the end of the campaign.
"I think Steven will be very important. Who knows if he will play, that's the manager's decision, but I think at some stage he will be on the pitch. Looking back on that first 45 minutes against United when he was on the bench and we were without Stevie in a big game, I thought some players froze that day and you can't allow that to happen in a semi-final. If I was picking the team he would be in mine on that reason alone but if Brendan decides not to, I'm sure he will be on the pitch at some stage. If anyone can come on and make a difference, it's Steven Gerrard."
Liverpool entertain underdogs Aston Villa in the weekend's second semi-final fixture, with kick-off scheduled to start at 3pm UK time today. Follow the live commentary, with Harry Robinson, here!