ON Great Britain’s most successful day at an Olympic games for 100 years it was a man who had already picked up his winner’s medal on international duty this summer who inspired Liverpool to victory in their Premier League opener.

Team GB picked up four gold medals in Beijing on Saturday and repeated the feat yesterday in a hugely successful weekend.

But as much as Liverpool’s supporters will be pleased to hear of our athletes’ victories in the Far East they are ultimately infinitely more engrossed in the continuing rising star of their own golden boy Fernando Torres.

Having masterminded several successful European campaigns Rafael Benitez is determined to reach the Holy Grail which has so far eluded both himself and his club this season – the Premier League title.

The Spaniard knows that the clock is ticking, with Manchester United potentially equalling Liverpool’s proud record of 18 titles this season, and has therefore adopted a policy of trying to bring in players at their peak who know the English club game intimately.

It will come clear over the next fortnight whether or not Benitez is finally able to snare Gareth Barry – now cup-tied in Europe until the New Year – but the England international midfielder is coveted more for what he can bring on a weekly basis in domestic fare.

Well-established on the financial gravy train of top-four status with regular Champions League revenue, Liverpool now have to make the step up from being mere members of the “big four” to being title contenders.

For progress to have been made, Benitez’s side have to still be pushing for top spot when Easter eggs are being eaten rather than having their hopes dashed before the Christmas turkey is served up.

It will be encouraging therefore that they have started with a clean sheet – the bedrock of their challenge, with Pepe Reina already having won the goalkeeper’s “Golden Gloves” award for the past three seasons.

However, the challenge this season will be to increase their attacking output without sacrificing defensive duties and turn all those costly draws in the league into victories.

That’s where Torres comes in – and Liverpool will hope Keane too.

One clear opportunity, one goal for the Spaniard on Saturday – that can make the difference over the next nine months when it comes to challenging Manchester United and Chelsea.

As someone who knows what it takes to win the odd Premier League title, Sunderland manager Roy Keane acknowledged just how important Torres can be to Liverpool’s cause.

He said: “As soon as it left his foot it had goal written all over it. I saw him do the same thing at Middlesbrough last year, as well as other teams.

“That’s why he’s such a good striker. It’s not just tap-ins, he’s capable of scoring outside the box too and that’s the difference at this level. We all realise that.

“That’s why guys like that cost £25-30 million. People keep asking me about the value of players and I say he’s worth every penny because he’s won the game for Liverpool today and that could make a difference for them.”

Summer recruits Andrea Dossena and Robbie Keane both made their first Premier League appearance for Liverpool while Roy Keane gave debuts to four new signings – former Tottenham trio Teemu Tainio, Steed Malbranque and Pascal Chimbonda plus ex-Liverpool strike El-Hadji Diouf, who was bought from Bolton Wanderers.

If it wasn’t bad enough for travelling fans to make the three-hour trek up to the North East for a tea-time fixture, Saturday evening televised fixtures have now been put back a further 15 minutes from last season to 5.30pm.

It begs the question how long will it be until football’s money men start putting Premier League games up against primetime viewing like the X-Factor and the long-suffering fans don’t return home until well after midnight.

The later starts already seem to have had an effect as the visitors’ enclosure – almost always full for Liverpool away games – was littered with scores of empty seats, although this wasn’t helped by the reduced allocation by the local Licensing Authority as punishment for away fans standing during previous fixtures.

With Sunderland attacking the South Stand where the Liverpool fans were situated in the first half, those who were in attendance got an early chance to renew acquaintances with fallen idol Diouf.

Roy Keane admitted that the Senegalese striker is a player opposition fans “Love to hate” after signing Diouf and an unnecessary kick on Sami Hyypia early on after the ball had long gone did little to restore any harmony with the followers of his former employers.

Spurred on by a large and vociferous home crowd, Sunderland, eager to take the game to Liverpool after seeing what Standard Liege had achieved midweek, dominated the first half.

Diouf was almost played in by a Hyypia back header directed towards Reina which fell short, but after taking a touch to control the ball, the Sunderland frontman was thwarted by a Jamie Carragher interception.

The Black Cats continued to press and Reina had to parry away a powerful header by Daryl Murphy from Diouf’s left-wing cross, and it wasn’t until the 43rd minute that the visitors produced their first real shot at goal when Robbie Keane flashed a volley wide of Craig Gordon’s right hand post.

At the start of the second half, youngster Damien Plessis, surprisingly preferred to Xabi Alonso in the starting line-up, was replaced by the Spanish international after failing to shake off an injury picked up before the break.

As he had done before the interval, Diouf went close with an effort soon after the restart but should have made a better connection with a tame shot at the back post from Murphy’s low left-wing cross.

At the other end, Benayoun forced Gordon down to his right with a low effort and Keane followed up on the rebound only for Pascal Chimbonda to deflect his shot wide for a corner kick.

Having soaked up the now tiring home side’s pressure, Liverpool were finally starting to turn the screw.

Torres almost had a chance to break the deadlock when he followed up a shot parried by Gordon in a penalty-box scramble only for Keane to get in his way and inadvertently deflect his effort wide.

Alonso tried his luck with a trademark chip from within his own half which beat the keeper but sailed just over the bar.

But with seven minutes remaining the Spanish pair combined to fashion a winner.

Receiving the ball from a clever pass by Alonso, Torres despatched a perfectly-placed shot into the bottom right-hand side of Sunderland’s goal from 20 yards out, giving Gordon no chance.

Strikes like that could be worth much more than their weight in gold for Liverpool this season if they bring the Premier League trophy to Anfield for the first time.