• Premier League

Torres World Cup hopes in doubt due to knee surgery

Fernando Torres will miss the remainder of the season for Liverpool due to knee surgery, and his participation in the World Cup finals must be in some doubt as his club expect him to be sidelined for six weeks.

Torres, who previously underwent knee surgery in January, missed Liverpool's 0-0 draw with Fulham last weekend due to the problem and the striker will go under the knife on Sunday night.

The news means Torres will miss Liverpool's final four games of the Premier League season and their Europa League semi-final against his former side Atletico Madrid. Torres will also miss the final in Hamburg should Liverpool qualify.

"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 club spokesman said on Sunday.

"This will be carried out later tonight [Sunday]. We cannot comment ahead of the operation, but as a guide, the usual rehabilitation period for this type of procedure is around six weeks."

Torres, who has been restricted to only 20 Premier League starts due to injury this season, had been assessed by Dr Ramon Cugat, the specialist who operated on him in January, but the volcanic ash crippling air travel across Europe had prevented his return to Barcelona earlier this week.

Cugat claimed on Tuesday that the problem was "not serious" and that Torres could be available for Liverpool's game against West Ham on Monday. Subsequent tests have exposed that positive prognosis as incorrect though.

If Torres is absent for six weeks, he will be unable to play in Spain's friendly against Saudi Arabia on May 29. However, he could in theory be available for the second game of their Austrian training camp which comes against South Korea on June 3.

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