Soccer:Liverpool striker Fernando Torres will miss the remainder of the season after undergoing knee surgery on Sunday night. The procedure will rule the 26-year-old out of action for around six weeks.
He will be unavailable for the Premier League run in and also the remainder of the club’s Europa League campaign, which continues this week with a semi-final against Torres’ former club Atletico Madrid.
The Spanish international now faces a race against time to prove his fitness for the World Cup in South Africa.
European champions Spain play their opening World Cup match against Switzerland on June 16th. They are also grouped with Chile and Honduras in Group H at the tournament which opens in South Africa on June 11th.
Torres, 26, who has scored 22 goals in all competitions this season, was sidelined for a month after a knee operation in January. He had struggled with a groin injury at the end of last year.
"Fernando saw a specialist in Spain earlier today and it was decided that he would need surgery on a torn cartilage in his right knee," a Liverpool spokesman told the club's website (wwww.liverpoolfc.tv.) yesterday.
Liverpool, meanwhile, are looking at a contingency plan for alternative travel options to Madrid should Uefa decide to press ahead with their Europa League semi-final against Atletico on Thursday.
European football’s governing body are yet to rule on whether the last-four first-leg clashes — Fulham also have to go to Hamburg — will go ahead because of the chaos caused by a cloud of volcanic ash which has grounded thousands of flights across the continent.
However, having already insisted the Champions League semi-finals between Inter Milan and Barcelona and Bayern Munich and Lyon will go ahead, forcing the Spanish and French sides to make long journeys by coach, there is a real possibility Uefa will follow suit with the Europa League.
But with the flying ban extended until tomorrow morning at the earliest Liverpool are having to plan for a worst-case scenario by tackling the 2,600-mile round trip overland.
It is not an option the club are happy with but are wary of the precedent which appears to have been set by the decision to play the Champions League semis.
Sources at the club have pointed out that, although arduous, it is easier for Barcelona and Lyon to get to their destinations in continental Europe than it is for the Merseysiders to make the trek from north-west England to central Spain.
The journey by road would take an estimated 21 hours non-stop but that would be impractical, although the alternative of a two-day trip would mean the squad would have to leave just a few hours after tonight’s Premier League match at home to West Ham and get back shortly before an away game at Burnley on Sunday.
A combination of road and rail travel is another potential option but any plans cannot be finalised until Uefa have made their decision.