Liverpool goalkeeper Chris Kirkland has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.
Referee Rob Styles attends to the injured Kirlkland at Selhurst Park (TonyMarshall/Empics)
The 21-year-old suffered a tear to the posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in a collision with Crystal Palace striker Dele Adebola during yesterday's FA Cup fourth-round tie at Selhurst Park.
An MRI scan revealed the torn ligament and the club must now decide how best to treat the injury. No date has yet been set for Kirkland's return, but the injury will definitely keep him out for the remainder of the current campaign.
Kirkland had been enjoying his longest run in the first team at the Merseyside club after a string of errors by Polish goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek persuaded Reds manager Gerard Houllier to give the England Under-21 stopper his chance.
The timing of the injury is particularly cruel for Kirkland, who might have been in England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson's thoughts for his senior squad to face Australia in a friendly on February 12.
Kirkland joined Liverpool in August 2001 from Coventry in a deal worth £6million, a British record fee for a goalkeeper. Earlier today Dudek, a close friend of Kirkland, told the club's official website: 'I feel so sorry for Chris.
'During my first few minutes on the pitch (against Crystal Palace) I was thinking more about him than I was about the game. We are close friends and I never like to see my friends suffering.
'The boss has been saying to me over the last few weeks that I always have to be ready because I never know when my chance is going to come around again. I don't like the way my chance came about, but I now have to come in and do a job for the team.'
