FERNANDO TORRES is set to miss Liverpool’s next three Premier League games – as well as missing out on an emotional return to Atletico Madrid.

UEFA last night lifted their ban on the La Liga club staging their Champions League clash with Liverpool in the Spanish capital next Wednesday after they were originally punished for crowd trouble in the previous group game with Marseille.

But Torres, who tore a hamstring for the second time this season while playing for Spain in Belgium on Wednesday, had already been ruled out of the fixture wherever it was due to be played, as well as tomorrow’s home game with Wigan.

And a further scan on his hamstring yesterday revealed that he could be out for up to 15 days, making him almost certain to miss next week’s trip to Chelsea in the Premier League.

He then faces a race to be fit for the first midweek Premier League programme of the campaign, in which Liverpool play Portsmouth at Anfield on Wednesday, October 29.

A scan on Ryan Babel, who was injured playing for Holland against Norway, revealed he has sprained an ankle and is “a major doubt” to face Wigan, but he should recover in time for the Atletico fixture.

But the injury setback to Torres has prompted Benitez to call for an overhaul in the international football calendar as he feels players are overworked and being put at increased risk of injury.

Torres was twice injured while away with Spain last season, although on the flip side, his first hamstring injury of this season coincided with an international break which meant he only missed one Liverpool game, the 2-1 win over Manchester United.