Benitez: That's why I bought Fernando Torres!

Aug 21 2007

RAFAEL BENITEZ believes Fernando Torres has already demonstrated why Liverpool spent a club record fee on the striker.

The Liverpool manager put aside his anger at the manner of Sunday’s 1-1 Premier League draw with Chelsea to acclaim £18million man Torres, who scored his first goal for the club in the Anfield showdown.

The match was dominated by referee Rob Styles’s performance, and the controversial penalty decision against Steve Finnan that gifted Chelsea an equaliser from Frank Lampard.

Finnan was equally incensed by the decision, claiming “Chelsea’s players will appeal for anything.”

But the bright spot for Liverpool was a quality early goal from Torres, which showcased the Spaniard’s pace, control and shooting ability.

Benitez was delighted with his new man, saying: “The players know now that Torres has pace and he can score the goals that we need.

“Fernando showed pace and quality, it was a great goal for him, for us and for the supporters.”

Benitez also defended Torres from Chelsea claims that he was going down too easily after challenges.

Benitez said: “Torres learned a lot from this game, but it is too early to judge him, he will need a little more time.

“He was playing against the best defenders in England, and he had no problems.

“They were intimidating the referee about him, but if Torres was on the ground it was because he had been kicked and was limping.

“But I am very pleased, for the future it was positive. He showed the quality he has and we will see more goals from him.”

In a match of nine bookings and constant berating of the referee, with players frequently surrounding him in protest, Finnan admitted to being disappointed that three points were lost to Liverpool because of a decision against him for a supposed foul on Florent Malouda.

Finnan said: “We are very, very disappointed, especially the way they got back into the game.

“We played well and four points from two games is not a bad start but it should have been six.

“People are telling me it wasn’t a penalty. When the referee blew his whistle I thought it was for someone being offside in the box.

“But their players will appeal for anything, when really all the lad did was to run into me.”

He added: “Chelsea needed something like that to get back into the game. They played a bit better after they had scored, but until they got their goal we had dominated.

“They didn’t have many chances, so it was very disappointing to have been held like that.

“But the start to our season has been pretty good. We won our first away league game, and it was a very professional performance to win in Toulouse.

“That was important considering the conditions out there, so it was disappointing not to end the week with a win over Chelsea that we deserved.”