Liverpool striker Fernando Torres sidelined for the season

The Spain international returned to his homeland on Saturday, travelling by road and rail to circumvent the travel chaos caused by the Icelandic volcanic eruption, for further consultation with Dr Ramon Cugat, who carried out the initial surgery on his damaged meniscus in January.

Dr Cugat had drained fluid from the player’s knee last week - a common side-effect of operations - but the decision was taken over the weekend to carry out a second operation.

A spokesman for Liverpool last night confirmed Torres is likely to be out of action for around six weeks, the same period of recovery he required earlier this season, ruling him out of the rest of Liverpool’s campaign and making him a doubt for Spain’s World Cup squad.

Fernando Hierro, Spain’s technical director, has remained in constant contact with the player and his representatives since he aggravated the injury in the second leg of Liverpool’s Europa League quarter-final against Benfica.

He and manager Vicente del Bosque will closely monitor the player’s fitness before deciding whether to include him on their 23-man list.

The news will come as a severe blow to Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, who admitted last week he “did not know” if an operation would be necessary, as well as the player, who was desperate to feature in the club’s Europa League semi-final against his former side Atlético Madrid on Thursday.

Uefa will make a decision today on whether that fixture will go ahead in light of the problems caused by the ash cloud playing havoc with European airspace after confirming on Sunday that Barcelona and Lyon will travel by road to enable their Champions League fixtures this week to take place.