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Liverpool Manager Roy Hodgson: I Hope Spain Rest Fernando Torres In Upcoming Euro 2012 Qualifier Against Liechtenstein
Gaffer asks Del Bosque to 'look kindly' on Reds forward
30-Aug-2010 6:45:00 AM
By Adithya Ananth
Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has sent out a plea to his Spain counterpart Vicente del Bosque, asking him to rest Fernando Torres during the upcoming Euro 2012 qualifier against Liechtenstein.
Spain open their qualifying campaign against Hans-Peter Zaugg's men on Friday, and have an international friendly against Argentina next Tuesday.
The hitman has only just returned to competitive football as he continues to recover from a knee problem.
Torres had not scored for either club or country for almost 500 minutes before an excellent volley owing to an assist from Dirk Kuyt saw him open his account in the Premier League.
Meanwhile, the former Inter boss believes that it would be wise to leave the 26-year-old out of the national squad for the moment, to allow him to continue training on Merseyside and regain full fitness.
"We hope Spain will not call upon his services and give him the chance to continue his pre-season because he needs training more than matches," Hodgson said, according to The Mirror.
"It would be very nice if Del Bosque would look kindly on us because there's no doubt that he would prosper from two weeks of serious training, hard training, to continue his pre-season work.
"If he's going to go away with them and play matches, that's quite a different kind of training and preparation. That's not what he requires at this moment in time and he requires a much more rigorous training programme.
"We also want to keep an eye on the knee, which caused him so many problems in the build-up to the World Cup.
"We can't say he's unfit to play football because we've just seen him play 85 minutes of football [against West Bromwich Albion]."
Hodgson added: "I will speak to the manager of the Spain team, although I don't know if it will be Del Bosque himself. We can only propose this for the player that this is the best thing, but we don't have the right."
Spain open their qualifying campaign against Hans-Peter Zaugg's men on Friday, and have an international friendly against Argentina next Tuesday.
The hitman has only just returned to competitive football as he continues to recover from a knee problem.
Torres had not scored for either club or country for almost 500 minutes before an excellent volley owing to an assist from Dirk Kuyt saw him open his account in the Premier League.
Meanwhile, the former Inter boss believes that it would be wise to leave the 26-year-old out of the national squad for the moment, to allow him to continue training on Merseyside and regain full fitness.
"We hope Spain will not call upon his services and give him the chance to continue his pre-season because he needs training more than matches," Hodgson said, according to The Mirror.
"It would be very nice if Del Bosque would look kindly on us because there's no doubt that he would prosper from two weeks of serious training, hard training, to continue his pre-season work.
"If he's going to go away with them and play matches, that's quite a different kind of training and preparation. That's not what he requires at this moment in time and he requires a much more rigorous training programme.
"We also want to keep an eye on the knee, which caused him so many problems in the build-up to the World Cup.
"We can't say he's unfit to play football because we've just seen him play 85 minutes of football [against West Bromwich Albion]."
Hodgson added: "I will speak to the manager of the Spain team, although I don't know if it will be Del Bosque himself. We can only propose this for the player that this is the best thing, but we don't have the right."
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