Torres injury causes Reds anxiety

Fernando Torres could miss Liverpool's next three matches after suffering a thigh injury with Spain on Wednesday.

Reds manager Rafael Benitez fears the striker, 24, will be out for about 10 days if final medical reports confirm the player has a hamstring strain.

That would mean missing Premier League matches against Wigan and Chelsea along with a Champions League game against his former club Atletico Madrid.

"I am very disappointed about this," said Benitez on Thursday.

Torres, Liverpool's top scorer last season in his first year with the club, limped off after only 16 minutes of Spain's 2-1 win over Belgium in Brussels.

The Spaniard has struggled with hamstring problems before, most recently at the beginning of September when he was sidelined for the international break after tearing the muscle in the goalless draw against Aston Villa.

Another Liverpool forward, Ryan Babel, damaged his ankle playing for the Netherlands in their 1-0 win in Norway.

Babel, who missed Euro 2008 with ankle ligament problems, played no further part in Wednesday's match after he went down under a tackle from Blackburn's Morten Gamst Pedersen on 26 minutes.

With Liverpool, second in the Premier League, facing a number of important games in the coming weeks, Benitez is disappointed to lose key players and has voiced his discontent at the international schedule.

"To lose any players is a big blow," he said.

"There are too many international games, and the demands on the players are too much. Someone needs to analyse this situation, because it is putting the players at risk of injury."

His best hope is that Torres could be fit enough to make the critical away trip to leaders Chelsea on Sunday 26 October, but details concerning Babel's injury remain unclear as he is yet to be examined by club doctors.

Liverpool midfielder and fellow Spaniard Xabi Alonso told the club website that Torres' injury was a blow: "It is undoubtedly bad news.

"We have to wait and see what the tests say, but we do not stop now until around Christmas, and we have a big calendar coming up - we cannot let up.

"It is not the first time this has happened [to Torres] with the national side, and it is a blow to have an injury when he is in such a good streak of form."