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LIVERPOOL manager Roy Hodgson is hoping to have Fernando Torres firing on all cylinders for Sunday’s trip to Birmingham City after Spain heeded his plea to go easy on the striker.
Torres travelled to Buenos Aires for Tuesday’s friendly but was an unused substitute in the 4-1 defeat against Argentina.
Hodgson, who had hoped Spain would excuse the prolific 26-year-old from international duty to allow him to continue his recuperation from injury at Melwood, was relieved to see Torres given the night off. And now the manager is relishing the chance to unleash Torres against Alex McLeish’s side.
“We spoke to the Spanish coach and they said it wasn’t possible for him to skip the trip,” Hodgson said.
“If he’d done that then a lot of other big name players might have wanted to skip it as well. Through fairness they felt obliged to take everybody, but luckily they listened to my plea not to overplay him and the fact he played no part in the game hopefully means he will come back in good shape and be able to work with us instead.”
After missing most of pre-season, Torres is still some way from full fitness but the fact that he followed up grabbing the winner against West Brom by scoring twice for Spain against Liechtenstein last Friday bodes well ahead of Sunday’s clash at St Andrew’s.
