Fernando Torres, the Liverpool forward, has been ruled out for between 10 and 15 days with a hamstring injury picked up on international duty.

Torres was forced to leave the field after just 16 minutes of Spain’s 2-1 victory over Belgium in Brussels and if the diagnosis of the extent of his injury proves correct he will miss Saturday's visit of Wigan Athletic in the Barclays Premier League, plus two more high-profile clashes.

Liverpool visit Atletico Madrid, Torres's former club, in the Champions League on October 22, and follow that with a trip to Chelsea, the current Premier League leaders, just four days later.

The news has angered Rafael Benitez, the Liverpool manager, who launched an attack on the international football calendar.

"I am very disappointed about this because it now looks like we will lose Fernando for three very important games," Benitez said. "We have Wigan at home and Chelsea away in the league and Atletico Madrid away in the Champions League, so to lose any players is a big blow.

"The initial reports say Fernando is likely to be out for around 10 days and that would mean he would miss these games. 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.

"Maybe the answer is for there to be a two-tier qualifying system because there are too many games in the qualifiers for the World Cup and the European Championships which are not competitive but which still place great demands on the players.

"These fixtures are unnecessary and maybe it would be better if the weaker countries played one another and the best of them went to play the stronger countries in the qualifiers."

Benitez's mood will further be darkened with the news that he is also likely to be without Ryan Babel for the visit of Wigan. The winger suffered an ankle injury following a heavy tackle by Blackburn's Morten Gamst Pedersen in Holland's qualifier against Norway and is very doubtful for Saturday's match.