Liverpool will have to wait until later this week to discover the full extent of the groin injury sustained by striker Fernando Torres in Sunday's World Cup final victory.
The 26-year-old came off the substitutes' bench in extra time of Spain's historic victory over Holland in South Africa but was seen to sharply pull up as he chased a ball forward.
His problem has been confirmed as a left adductor injury and he will undergo further examination in the next few days having returned to Madrid with the rest of the squad.
Torres has been plagued by injury all season and, having struggled with a groin problem before Christmas, he ended up having two operations on his right knee within the space of four months which ended his Liverpool campaign prematurely.
Following the second bout of surgery he returned to action after six weeks, in time to play his part in Spain's World Cup campaign, but looked well short of match sharpness throughout the whole tournament.
Torres has been linked with big-money moves away from Anfield this summer in the wake of a disappointing seventh-placed Barclays Premier League finish but his latest injury may go some way to damping down speculation about his future.
On Sunday night he was photographed celebrating in the team's dressing room with a Liverpool scarf draped around his shoulders.
Back at Anfield the club have strengthened their sports science and sports medicine department with five new additions.
Two physiotherapists from the Australia national team, Darren Burgess and Phil Coles, have joined Liverpool's new head of sports medicine Dr Peter Brukner - who was also at the World Cup with the Socceroos.
Tottenham's club doctor Zaf Iqubal has also been recruited along with Jordan Milsom, who joins the backroom team as sports scientist, while the club will also be working with John Moores University through sports science consultant Barry Drust, who will spend a couple of days at the first team training ground each week.
Source: PA
