Football Club

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson may rest all the club’s World Cup players – an entire team – for their Europa League third-round qualifier.

The Reds’ European campaign begins at home to either Rabotnicki of Macedonia or Armenian side Mika on 29 July.

World Cup finalists Fernando Torres, Jose Reina, Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel do not return until after that first leg.

Hodgson added medical staff told him it would be “very foolhardy” to risk any of the other seven due back next week.

Hodgson was already planning for the tie without Spain’s World Cup winners Torres and Reina and beaten Dutch finalists Kuyt and Babel.

Liverpool’s England contingent of Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Glen Johnson, Denmark’s Daniel Agger and Slovakia’s Martin Skrtel are all expected back at training over the coming days, while Argentina duo Javier Mascherano and Maxi Rodriguez are due back by 26 July.

Hodgson, though, has strongly indicated he will resist the temptation to use any of these players for his first competitive test in his new job.

Speaking from his squad’s pre-season training camp in Switzerland, the former Fulham boss added: “If we feel we are endangering our chances of doing well in the Premier League by risking players in the early stage of the Europa League, it will be a decision the club will have to take. You have to follow the guidance.”

Serbia striker Milan Jovanovic, who became Hodgson’s first signing from Standard Liege earlier in July, will be available for selection.

And the 62-year-old coach claimed that any other fresh arrivals “would become important for the Europa League”.

On Saturday, a friendly against Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal was called off because of heavy rain, meaning Hodgson’s first game in charge will come against Grasshoppers of Zurich, a club he managed over 10 years ago.

Hodgson then takes his team to Germany where they face Kaiserslautern on 24 July.

Sandwiched in between both legs of their European opener, Liverpool return to Germany for another friendly away against Borussia Monchengladbach on 1 August.

And a fortnight later, the Merseysiders kick off their Premier League season at home to Arsenal.

Last season the Reds finished a disappointing seventh in the table, meaning that they failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since the 2003-2004 campaign.