You'll Never Walk Alone

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has declared that striker Fernando Torres's hamstring injury is not worse than first believed.

The Spain international injured his hamstring in the Champions League clash with Marseille at Anfield and was said to be out for between two and three weeks.

It has since been rumoured that the 24-year-old will now be out for longer than expected after he visited a specialist in his native Spain.

The injury is a reoccurrence of the hamstring tear Torres picked up while on international duty with Spain earlier in the season and Benitez insists they want the problem sorted for good.

"Fernando is progressing and improving so hopefully he will be back sooner rather than later," the former Valencia boss told the club's official website.

"It's just a question of waiting and not pressuring the player. I was with him today and he was okay.

"He has a lot of confidence now, and when you have confidence, you can be fitter sooner.

"Everything is going well and I think it will be more or less the time we said before, maybe less"

Benitez insists that Torres' trip to see a specialist in Spain was beneficial and confirmed what the club had already agreed.

"It was just to confirm our diagnosis was right and that is the case. The injury was a relapse of the one he had before.

"The specialist has known Torres for a long time and he also has a good relationship with our physios who are working hard with him.

"We are really pleased because we know the problem and now we can find a solution. We know we have to work hard on it and I think he'll be okay."