Cisse set to miss rest of season with broken leg

Liverpool's Djibril Cisse is taken off after breaking his leg. Liverpool's French international striker Djibril Cisse is unlikely to play again this season after breaking his leg during Saturday's 2-2 Premiership draw at Blackburn Rovers.

Liverpool's French international striker Djibril Cisse is unlikely to play again this season after breaking his leg during Saturday's 2-2 Premiership draw at Blackburn Rovers.

The 23-year-old striker, a club record 14-million-pound signing this summer, was hurt in the 38th minute of the game at Ewood Park with x-rays later revealing a fracture to the tibia and fibula in his left leg.

"Djibril will undergo surgery on Sunday morning to insert a pin in the tibia," Liverpool Head of Press Ian Cotton told the club's website.

"Unfortunately he is unlikely to play again this season and everybody at the club wishes him the speediest of recoveries."

Cisse was left screaming in agony as he fell to the ground after an innocuous tangle with Rovers' defender Jamie McEveley.

The incident comes just a year after Milan Baros and Jamie Carragher broke an ankle and shin respectively on Liverpool's previous visit to the ground.

The injury is almost certain to force manager Rafael Benitez into the transfer market when the window opens in January.

"I have my fingers crossed for Djibril but at the moment I can't do anything," said Benitez.

After a quiet start in the Premiership, Cisse was just starting to find his feet, although his partnership with Baros had still not looked convincing.

Baros is now likely to be deployed in a lone striking role with Luis Garcia just behind, while Benitez is reported to be interested in Real Madrid's Fernando Morientes, whose exit from the Bernabeu in January is almost certain.