Rafa Benitez happy to encourage Fernando Torres’ record finish

May 12 2008 by Chris Beesley, Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL manager Rafael Benitez has revealed that there was no way he was going to rest Fernando Torres for his side’s final game at Tottenham as the Spanish striker was desperate to break Ruud van Nistelrooy’s scoring record.

Torres’ 73rd minute strike in a 2-0 victory at White Hart Lane was his 24th Premier League goal of the campaign – a new record for an overseas player in his debut season – eclipsing the previous best of the former Manchester United marksman. Benitez has given some of his fringe players opportunities in recent weeks with nothing riding on Liverpool’s Premier League matches, but he insisted that there was no chance of him overlooking his compatriot in the last fixture of the campaign with Torres eager to overhaul the Dutchman’s tally at Old Trafford.

He said: “Always when you sign a player, it’s difficult to know whether he will settle in the Premier League, he is a young hungry player and he wants to be successful.

“We talked about breaking van Nistelrooy’s record in training and before this game. He wanted to score today to get the record.

”There was no need to rest him for any reason, it was important for him to play and to break the record.

“Sometimes when you get a player for free he can turn out to be a bad signing, he has been good for us, the best for us so everybody is happy as he was expensive.

“Torres is as good a striker as there is in the Premier League.”

Benitez revealed that he was pleased with some individual charts that Liverpool topped this season, but admitted that ultimately a failure to win a trophy remains a blemish on the campaign.

He said: “We scored the most goals in England (119), our keeper (Pepe Reina) won the Golden Gloves (with 18 clean sheets) for the third season in a row and Fernando Torres is now the most prolific scorer in his first season in the Premier League.

“There’s a lot of things going for us, a lot of positives. To gain 76 points is a good figure but we could not win a trophy.

”We know that each season we have to go as high as possible and to win trophies but this season has been difficult at times. People were criticising us and saying that we were too defensive but the numbers are there for everyone to see, we play good football, attacking football and we try to win every game.

“The second goal was a massive importance for us. We could counter attack and it meant Tottenham had to attack.”

Benitez, who is expected to tie up a deal for Swiss international Philipp Degen on a Bosman free transfer from Borussia Dortmund as well as courting more expensive targets such as Aston Villa captain Gareth Barry, admits that he is hoping to add several new faces to the Anfield playing staff this summer.

He said: “We are working hard to improve the squad and are watching players every week of the year.

“We have a need for players in different positions and are looking.

“It is possible to build a new stadium and strengthen the squad. We are looking for the best players as soon as possible.

“I think we will go forward that way (signing new players).”

Meanwhile, Tottenham manager Juande Ramos says he has plenty of respect for fellow Spaniard Fernando Torres but believes some of his players showed Liverpool’s number nine a little too much respect.

He said: “It was just an end of season game with nothing much to play for from either team. It was a relaxed game. You have to give credit to Torres for his goal, maybe he was given a little too much room but give him credit for it.

“Torres has had a great season for Liverpool, he has scored a host of goals for the club.”

Tottenham’s own season tailed off after lifting their first silverware for nine years and Ramos acknowledges he may well have a fight on his hands to retain the services of his own number nine, Dimitar Berbatov.

He said: “Maybe we did suffer after winning the Carling Cup, maybe we achieved our objectives of winning a trophy too soon.”

He said there had been no offers for Berbatov yet.