Rafael Benitez has turned to the mystery horse placenta healer from Serbia to solve Liverpool's injury crisis it emerged last night, when Glen Johnson and Fabio Aurelio both flew into Belgrade to get treatment from the controversial Marijana Kovacevic. It was the latest twist in the extraordinary story of Kovacevic, the woman who was made famous this week when Arsenal's Robin van Persie announced his intention to visit her and undergo her unorthodox horse placenta treatment on his ruptured ankle ligaments. Now it seems that even the arch-rationalist Benitez has decided that she can help him solve his injury problems. It is supposed to strengthen the damaged muscles and ligaments and help speed up recovery time and Johnson and Aurelio have both missed recent games for club and country with their respective calf problems. Johnson and Aurelio were filmed by a Serbian television crew walking through Belgrade's Nikola Tesla Airport, but refused to speak to reporters. But the controversy surrounding Kovacevic's methods are likely to intensify after it was claimed in Serbia that she uses HUMAN placenta fluid to treat patients rather than cow and horse fluid. Medical view: Placenta of attention 
 
 First it was Arsenal's Robin van Persie, now half a dozen more Premier League stars are making the pilgrimage to Serbia for treatment with "placental fluid" from Marijana Kovacevic.
– A treatment featuring horse placenta is becoming all the rage for injured European soccer stars, with two Liverpool players just the latest to seek treatment. The procedure, performed by a Serbian woman, sees the placenta—a leftover of the breeding process—injected into the hurt area, then massaged further into the tissue. Marijana Kovacevic emphasized the “alternative” aspects of the procedure, the Independent notes, using candles and darkened rooms. Kovacevic is said to charge about $4,500 for the six-hour procedure, about which a number of teams are skeptical. And, the Daily Mirror adds, there have been reports in Serbia that Kovacevic in fact uses human placentas, not horse. Still, Arsenal star Robin van Persie is hot to trot after suffering ruptured ankle ligaments: “The treatment is going well,” he tells Serbian TV. “I hope it will help.”