Liverpool Injury News: Skrtel 'Fine' Despite Landing Heavily on his Head During Reds' FA Cup Clash against Blackburn

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers insists that Martin Skrtel is "fine" even though the defender was taken to the hospital after heavily landing on his head during the Reds' goalless draw against Blackburn Rovers in the quarter-final of the FA Cup.

The 30-year-old Slovakian appeared to lose consciousness for a while after a heavy fall on his head while contesting for a header with Blackburn Rovers striker Rudy Gestede in the third minute of the game.

Although the defender was immediately substituted by Kolo Toure, he gave a thumbs-up to the fans to indicate that he was okay.

And Rodgers had played down speculations of Skrtel sustaining a serious head injury, insisting that he is okay and Liverpool were just following standard procedure by taking him to the hospital.

"He is fine but he will go to the local hospital to make sure," said Rodgers, according to ESPN. "If he had his choice, he wouldn't but we have to follow procedure. He was fine, up walking and talking after the game, but as a precaution we need to make sure he is OK."

"He fell heavily so there was a feeling he could have been knocked out or concussed but I'll leave that to the medical experts."

Meanwhile, Rodgers feels that Liverpool were denied a "clear penalty" following Matt Kilgallon's first-half challenge on Adam Lallana.

"I thought that was a clear penalty. It was a great move and he [Lallana] got his body between the man and the ball and as he went to shoot he was knocked over," added the Northern Irishman.

However, the former Swansea City boss admits that his side lacked sharpness during that game.

"We probably needed that bit of luck to get the game opened up. The physical and mental energy we put into games is at such a high level. Today we just lacked that bit of sharpness physically. It affected the speed of our play. Unfortunately we couldn't get the result. It wasn't to be."

Nevertheless Rodgers is certain that his side will be able to beat Blackburn Rovers in the replay fixture at Ewood Park.

"We have to go to Blackburn and win but we are certainly capable of that. The objective in this game was to make sure we were in the hat for the semi-final. We didn't quite win it but we are still in there."