It says everything about Liverpool's overdependence on Fernando Torres that Rafael Benítez, the Merseyside club's manager, will sit down to watch Spain's friendly against England next week with his fingers crossed in the hope that the striker does not suffer another injury on international duty.

In the wake of losing Steven Gerrard, his captain, for three weeks with a torn hamstring and Robbie Keane's sale to Tottenham Hotspur, Benítez can ill afford anything bad to befall Torres in Seville on Wednesday, with Liverpool reliant on the player for goals as the title race gathers momentum.

Torres has suffered three hamstring injuries already on international duty since joining Liverpool 19 months ago, but while Benítez felt that Spain should have taken greater care with the striker when Luis Aragonés was in charge, he is optimistic that he will not have the same problems with Vicente del Bosque, Aragonés's successor and a former colleague at Real Madrid. Similarly, Javier Miñano, the Spain fitness coach, worked for some of the Real youth teams that Benítez formerly managed.

Benítez hinted that Torres, who has still to regain his match fitness fully even though it is more than a month since he returned to action after a five-week layoff, may not play the full 90 minutes away to Portsmouth this evening and is hopeful that Spain will heed his advice not to place too many demands on the player against England.

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“We just have to keep them [Spain] informed so they can take care of him,” Benítez said. “In football, you never know, but at least the communication [between them and us] is good. That is encouraging for us and much better. I'll just watch the television and keep my fingers crossed, but hopefully things will be OK.

“I think Fernando is over his hamstring problems. He needs games, but more than that he needs to train. We have to decide whether to use him at the end [against Portsmouth] or whether to start him for 70 minutes.”