Fernando Torres has saluted manager Rafael Benitez for turning him into the most feared striker in the world.

The prolific 25-year-old believes the Liverpool manager deserves a great deal of credit for his heroics since his £20million move from Atletico Madrid two years ago.

Torres’s 84 appearances for LIverpool have yielded 50 goals and he signalled his commitment to the cause by signing an improved contract towards the end of last season. He said: “Rafa concentrates on the professional side of things. He tries to improve every minor detail and movement you carry out during the course of a game, and he also explains the reasons behind his decisions.

“He’s obsessed that you understand what you are doing and why. He’s not happy that you do things just because he tells you that something has to be done.

“He says: ‘Do it like this. Do you understand why you are being told to do so? No? We’ll go through it again then’.

“I remember when I signed for the club people were questioning me as a goalscorer. I received criticism because I wasn’t getting goals.

“The first thing he told me was that I was signed to score goals. Benitez is adamant that I live in the area because that’s where you get goals. That was the first thing he told me, the wing is for the wingers, and that the striker should be focused on the two rival centre-backs.

“The Spain team play very differently, we have to be constantly on the move. In England I have to draw the centre-back out of place so that Steve Gerrard can burst through.”

Torres’s gruelling campaign finally ended following his heroics for Spain in the Confederations Cup in South Africa.