Gerrard set to miss start of England's World Cup campaign as lacklustre Reds squeeze through

Liverpool suffered a night of torture against European minnows Standard Liege before scraping through to the Champions League group stage 1-0 in extra-time.

But the victory came at a cost to the Merseysiders and England boss Fabio Capello after Rafa Benitez confirmed his talismanic midfielder will miss the next two weeks recovering from groin surgery.

Dirk Kuyt's knee saved Benitez's side the embarrassment of being taken to penalties by the Belgian club, scoring with it from close range as the clock showed two minutes left to play.

Steven Gerrard is set to miss England's opening World Cup qualifiers

But as their supporters and American owners breathed a huge sigh of relief about taking their place in Thursday's draw in Monaco with Arsenal, who thrashed Steve McClaren's FC Twente 4-0 at The Emirates last night and 6-0 on aggregate, they faced more agony.

Manager Benitez revealed Gerrard is to have an operation to cure the long-standing groin problem - ruling him out for around a fortnight.

The surgery means he is set to miss the all-important start to England's World Cup qualifying campaign against Andorra and Croatia next month.

His absence will be a major setback for Capello, who has failed to turn the national side into a force and knows the trip to Croatia will be one of the trickiest.

Benitez had to rely on Gerrard as his team struggled against Liege, but then the Spaniard said: "Gerrard will have an operation.

"He has a groin problem.

"We knew it could be like this. He will be out for 10-15 days.

"I was talking with the doctor and we talked with him. He said he would play with pain and after it he would have an operation.

"He knew he had to keep going tonight because he was having the operation tomorrow."

The tie appeared to be heading for penalties when Kuyt stuck out a leg at the far post to send Ryan Babel's cross into the back of the net and guarantee Benitez's side a share in the lucrative next round.

 Kuyt said :"We wanted to play in the Champions League because we know how good it can be.

"We've been in a final and a semi-final over recent years and we want more.

"First we have to win the qualifier and this was a tough game. We believed in ourselves and even though it wasn't our best performance, we always know we have the quality to score.

"Standard Liege were really tough opposition, they were really fighting for the 90 minutes in both matches and in extra time and maybe they deserved more, but that's football. We are just relieved to be through."