Fernando Torres underwent tests on Thursday at a Liverpool hospital on the serious groin injury which is threatening to ruin his season. Torres played with pain throughout the match, before flying back with the Liverpool party on Thursday morning.
This morning he went to a Liverpool hospital where more tests were carried out on his injury.
A Liverpool spokesman said:
“Fernando attended a Liverpool hospital today for further tests. It is nothing more dramatic than that, it is just further tests as part of his rehabilitation programme.”
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has said that he fears that Torres will eventually need an operation on what he describes as a “poor man’s hernia”. Benitez said after the draw in Lyon:
“Fernando played with pain, and after the game he still had the same problems that have troubled him for a few weeks. He wants to wait, rather than have an operation. He wants to work with the physios to try to solve his problems, but still he has pain. He told me he needed to keep stopping because of the pain. We must see how he can improve, and by how much. Then we will decide about any possible operation.”
One of the undercurrents of this story is the battle between club and country. Liverpool don’t want Torres to have an operation as that will put him out if action for 6-8 weeks. So they want to explore every option before they put Torres under the knife.
Hanging in the background is the spectra of the World Cup next summer. Torres is a valuable member of a Spain team that is favored to win the World Cup. Spain would obviously want Torres to undergo surgery now, so that his fully fit for the new year. Putting the surgery off until the new year, means less time for Torres to get ready for the world cup.