Premier League - Torres downs Chelsea with late brace

Eurosport - Mon, 02 Feb 10:25:00 2009

Fernando Torres hit a late brace as Liverpool overcame 10-man Chelsea 2-0 at Anfield to close the gap on Premier League leaders Manchester United to two points.

FOOTBALL 2008-09 Premier League - Liverpool's Fernando Torres celebrates scoring against Chelsea at Anfield - 0

Torres sent the home fans into raptures with an 89th minute near-post header from a Fabio Aurelio cross to dent Chelsea's own title hopes.

And the Spain star made sure of the points when substitute Yossi Benayoun robbed a hesitant Ashley Cole in the fourth minute of injury-time and squared in front of the overworked Petr Cech.

Both sides were on 48 points before the match, five points behind United having played the same number of matches.

The match was heading for a goalless draw with Liverpool unable to capitalise on their territorial possession and Robbie Keane, left out of the squad, watching in the stands.

The pressure mounted on the reluctant visitors when Frank Lampard saw red on the hour mark following a challenge on Xabi Alonso.

The England midfielder and his captain John Terry were furious with the decision by referee Mike Riley as they claimed the Blues man made contact with the ball however his studs were up.

The first shot on goal arrived on 11 minutes, Alonso shooting towards the top corner from outside the penalty area and forcing a fingertip save from Cech.

Riley looked to keep a lid on the flying tackles by carding Javier Mascherano and Cole in quick succession, and the pace of the game did indeed slow somewhat following the bookings.

Steven Gerrard was again the main catalyst for home attacks, but the Chelsea defence denied him and Torres space inside the area. However they rarely broke out themselves, with Nicolas Anelka a solitary figure up front ahead of Salomon Kalou, with Didier Drogba left on the bench.

Albert Riera brought another save out of Cech before half-time as the shot-stopper was mainly concerned with crosses and mopping up behind his deep-lying defensive line.

Alonso heated things back up immediately after the restart with a studs-up tackle on Jon Obi Mikel, who minutes later followed him into the book for a scything challenge on Fabio Aurelio as he hared down the touchline.

Alvaro Arbeloa found a way through when, having attacked the by-line and cut back to the industrious Dirk Kuyt, the ball dropped again to the Spaniard and his shot to the near post was saved low by Cech.

Kuyt had looked to shoot first-time but was hit with a tough tackle by England captain Terry just inside the box. It was a risky one and the home fans wanted a penalty, but Riley thought the centre-half had made contact with the ball as well as the man.

Four minutes later Terry was enraged to see the red card brandished at team-mate Lampard, who had looked caged by the defensive tactics employed by Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Alonso almost made the breakthrough when his long-range effort struck visiting defender Alex and looped down on to the crossbar, Cech leaping to knock the ball behind as it came back down.

Before Torres's timely strikes 'Pool's best chance of a winner seemed to be Benayoun, on for Riera with 16 minutes left. Cech tipped away one strike after he came inside on to his right foot while a volley from 18 yards dipped on to the roof of the net.

The introduction of Deco and Drogba before that had little effect for Chelsea, who looked like a team who ought to be content with a Champions League place come the end of the season.

Torres kept hopes at Anfield alive after their recent stutters with a wonderful finish after Gerrard had fed Aurelio having exchanged passes with Kuyt. His seventh of the season was his first notched at home.

His eighth of the campaign was simply the icing on the cake in front of the suddenly jubilant supporters; he left to a standing ovation seconds before the full-time whistle.

Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport

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  1. IT'S NOW THURSDAY AND STILL THEY PUT THIS TORRES THING ON THIS SITE, DO YOU GET THE FEELING THAT SOMEONE AT YAHOO IS A LIVERPOOL FAN TAKING THE P_ISS !!!

    From fluffy.bits, on Thu 5 Feb 10:48AM

  2. asanshe... havent heard you for a while. Went out for toffees?

    From Adrian H, on Thu 5 Feb 2:13AM

  3. HEY !!....will some one get this £ucking story off this site...its bloody wednesday !!

    From fluffy.bits, on Wed 4 Feb 5:18PM

  4. liverpool will not win anything untill benitez plays wis winning side week in week out.

    From jamie, on Wed 4 Feb 9:50AM

  5. benitez only gonna be please with his liverfool squad if all the players are latins or spaniards... next to be sold: gerrard n caragher...

    From Bali Tenno, on Tue 3 Feb 8:15PM

  6. stupid 713 how on heart do you people think,pls make sure you mind the way you talk to man .u fans barking dog

    From oyedeji, on Tue 3 Feb 1:54PM

  7. ok,ok,,i forgot the i....sorry.

    From David, on Mon 2 Feb 9:28PM

  8. the picture at the top of this page is confirmaton that...FERN TORRES IS GAY!!!!

    From David, on Mon 2 Feb 9:27PM

  9. liverpool shld give thanks to that dubious daylight robber "mike riley"who delibrately sent lamps out of da game,and allow gerrad who suppose to be sent off for his dreadful marking on kalou and hitting mikel delibrately with d ball,his decisions has alws been like that against chelseamhe did it during d che v west ham game.f%$&k riley.

    From lanre, on Mon 2 Feb 8:57PM

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    From , on Mon 2 Feb 6:53PM

  11. OH YESSSSSSS THE BOY IS BACK!!!!!!!!!!!! What wonderfull goals Not too sure about that Lampard red card though however that incident with Yossi being kicked over the corner? I feel that we did play the better of the two teams & we did deserve the 3 points Sad to see Robbie go don,t think he had much chance to prove himself but hey which of us can try to second guess Rafa's reasoning??? I'm looking forward to rest of the season & who knows no matter what the manu lot think it aint over till May so I'll keep watching & supporting my beloved Liverpool as usual I've just got a bigger smile on my face today!!! :) Keep up the good work lads LIVERPOOL FC FOREVER!!!

    From swearer2008, on Mon 2 Feb 6:11PM

  12. i am running a betting synd chelsea are gonna finnish 5th they are asured of at least two more defeats arsenal and villa. e-mail me with your bets; easybloomyahoocom
    good luck
    YOU WILL NEVER WALK ALONE

    From easybloom, on Mon 2 Feb 5:54PM

  13. ref:stevejones10001977 thanks for the welcome you should have seen the other pic my missus was gonna use !

    From jc297, on Mon 2 Feb 4:36PM

  14. I love U TORRES!!

    From aPRiL__Liverpoolfan from Austriaaa, on Mon 2 Feb 4:34PM

  15. Hi, John, What means by the real kings of England? 19 years without the Premium League's title? Slogan is useless.The fact is Liverpool is inconsistency in form and tactic due to Benitz. Even I am a manunited's fan, I do know the reason why Livepool won many titles in 70's and 80's because of consistency and stable team structure. What now Liverpool has? Don't be naive!

    From Nelson, on Mon 2 Feb 3:42PM

  16. picture=718, ill give him 1 thing, he's got bottle, if i looked like that id never allow a camera anywhere near me, much less be commentin on how other ppl looked

    From paul, on Mon 2 Feb 2:58PM

  17. who said liverpool cnt win the league we man utd once and well do it again without wes browns help this time. that will sort the men from the boys. @#$% on liverpool

    From wales4eva77, on Mon 2 Feb 2:56PM

  18. Seems like you hate anything out of Sheffield. Yours Dad's wrong!

    From tomkbms, on Mon 2 Feb 2:23PM

  19. Ure all wannabe tossers....sheffield wednesday (most successful club, my dad says). Bring it on mongrels!!!MUFC=full of @#$% // LFC=thieves, dreaming of former glories // Everthing south of Watford = @#$%

    From iw07949299584, on Mon 2 Feb 2:17PM

  20. " Keane will still be a Liverpool player after the January transfer window. " A quote by Benitez on radio 5 this morning. It looks like he will be a Spurs player at any moment now according to Sky news reports. So the question is - What is Rafa Benitez doing with the management of Liverpool? It is clear to all non Liverpool supporters that he does not have a clue what he is doing. This is why this average club will never win the Premier League and will always have to cling onto their past. What they need is to try and get Sir Alex to replace Benitez, it's the only way they will get success. However, Sir Alex will never go to a smaller club.

    From tomkbms, on Mon 2 Feb 2:13PM
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