CAPELLO LEFT FUMING BY BENITEZ AND FERGUSON

Suffering from the sort of withdrawal symptoms that will be familiar to his predecessors, England manager Fabio Capello reportedly believes that his aspiration of guiding the Three Lions to the World Cup is being derailed by two of the Premier League's leading managers.

Ahead of the most important week of his eight-month reign, the Italian is said to be particularly angry with Rafa Benitez after receiving no prior notice that Steven Gerrard would be unavailable for next week's qualifiers against Andorra and Croatia. Capello's mood darkened further yesterday when Sir Alex Ferguson definalty announced that while Owen Hargreaves would feature in this Friday's Super Cup match against Zenit St Petersberg he would resist the midfielder's release for the critical tie in Zagreb.

Variously described as 'stunned' and 'shocked' by the news that Gerrard is to have a minor operation on his groin later today, Ferguson's comments are reported to have left 'an already angry' Capello 'fuming'.

"I think it is impossible for him to play for England," Ferguson told reporters. "This will be his first start and he certainly won't be on for more than an hour. After that, he will need a recovery period, so I think it is very, very unlikely that Fabio would risk him."

Capello's response may be to insist that Hargreaves reports for international duty and instruct his medical staff to determine the player's level of fitness.

As well as being dismayed that Liverpool did not warn him that it had been decided that Gerrard would have an operation on his groin, the Italian is also entitled to be bewildered that England's expensively-assembled medical team did not detect the Liverpool captain's problem when he was on international duty last week.

According to Benitez, "He had a problem for the first game with Liege, and also when he went away to play for England in their friendly last week against the Czech Republic." Yet, by selecting Gerrard for the match, it is apparent that Capello had no inkling that the player was struggling or would require an operation. Furthermore, The Times discloses that when Capello met with reporters from the Sunday newspapers on Wednesday, 'he answered a significant number of questions about Gerrard's role, all from the perspective that he would be playing.' 'Had Capello known that there was a problem,' the newspaper concludes, 'he would surely have mentioned it then.'

Instead, the first Capello knew of Gerrard's operation and withdrawal was when England physio Gary Lewin - a surprise full-time appointment this summer given Arsenal's wretched injury record and habit of aggravating injuries by selecting less-than-fully-recovered players - contacted him late on Wednesday night. It is unknown whether Lewin provided an explanation for why Capello had not been previously alerted to the injury, or whether Gerrard himself has also explained why he did not let his international boss know in advance that he required an operation.

Nonetheless, the unexpected loss of such a important player has left Capello angry and suspicious that Liverpool, who have used Gerrard in every match so far this season, have been planning for some time to put their captain under the knife during what is, from their perspective, a conveniently-timed international week. From England's, it is anything but.