Torres, who is travelling to Lyon for the Champions League clash on Wednesday, has been struggling with an inguinal hernia since suffering the injury while on international duty with Spain last month.
The 25-year-old played just an hour of the defeat at Fulham on Saturday.
Reports suggest the Spaniard could be out of action for up to two months.
Benitez said: “We are trying to manage, as he was close to having an operation. Two days after the Fulham game, he is still feeling something.
“He is not comfortable and hasn’t got the power he had before, so we have to try to protect him.
“Fernando cannot play well if you keep pushing him. Maybe if you push him he will be injured for a long time.”
He added: “When you talk about big names, people just analyse the names and not how the player is when he is on the pitch.
“Fernando has had problems in the last month after the international games and wasn’t 100 per cent fit.
“But we have to take Fernando to Lyon because we do not have too many options.”
