AN under-fire Rafael Benitez yesterday received the support of a former Liverpool boss and one of the club’s heroes of Istanbul in the aftermath of their Champions League nightmare.

And he also received some better injury news ahead of Sunday’s vital home league clash against Manchester United with England defender Glen Johnson confident he will be fit.

Captain Steven Gerrard, who suffered a recurrence of his groin injury just 25 minutes into Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat to Lyon, and striker Fernando Torres, who missed the match with a groin problem, both underwent intensive treatment yesterday.

That will continue right up until Sunday’s showdown with the champions, with Torres the more likely to be fit.

Benitez received support from former Liverpool boss Roy Evans, who said: “The results have put a lot of pressure on. But they are still in the Champions League and can still get second place (in the group), but there has to be an improvement, that’s for sure.

“Rafa has always been tactically very strong in Europe, but when you lose your best players, like Gerrard, Torres and Johnson, that is a real problem.”

German midfielder Dietmar Hamann, who played in the victory over AC Milan in the Champions League final in 2005, said: “Everyone has to stick together and work hard on the training pitch, they need a win from somewhere.

“The title is still possible. It is easy to write them off, people always see things in the worst perspective, but every team goes through a bad run.

“If they go out of the Champions League it will be a disaster, the players need that incentive and the club needs the money.”