Torres Out of The Season

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres has been ruled out for the remainder of the season.

The Spain striker underwent surgery on his troublesome knee injury on Sunday night.

The procedure rules the 26-year-old out of action for around six weeks, meaning he will miss not only the Barclays Premier League run-in but 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 news will also cast a shadow over Spain's preparations for the World Cup, with Torres a key element of the European champions' set-up for the tournament which gets under way in just over seven weeks.

Coach Vicente del Bosque will almost certainly gamble on the fitness of the striker when he has to finalise his final 23-man squad, with Spain's first match in the tournament not until 16th June - around two and a half weeks after Torres' projected return date.

Torres' knee problem forced him to miss last weekend's goalless draw against Fulham as he flew to Barcelona to see Dr Ramon Cugat, the surgeon who operated on him in January when he was struck by a similar problem.

As recently as Friday, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez was hopeful Torres would play some part in Monday's league encounter with West Ham United or Thursday's first-leg against Atletico.

Despite enduring an injury-hit campaign, Torres has weighed in with 18 goals in 24 league outings for the Merseyside club this season.