Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has described his Reds team-mate Fernando Torres as 'the stand out striker in the world'.Torres has proved to be money well spent after already firing 30 goals in his first season in England following the Spaniard's club record transfer from Atletico Madrid last summer.

A 3-1 win against Blackburn last weekend, in which Torres scored the Reds' second goal, has put Liverpool - who play Fulham on Saturday - within touching distancing of guaranteeing fourth spot in the Premier League.

Liverpool are also preparing for their UEFA Champions League semi-final against Chelsea and ahead of the crucial run in, Carragher has expressed his delight that he has Torres as a club colleague.

"For me, Fernando is probably the stand out striker in world football and I'm just delighted that he's in a Liverpool shirt," Carragher told Liverpool's official website.

"To get 30 goals in your first season is a fantastic achievement and hopefully he can go on and get a few more goals this season.

"People said he didn't have his best game against Blackburn but he scored another important goal and that's his job."

Meanwhile, Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez recently demanded his side remain focused on securing a fourth place finish - despite the meeting with Chelsea figuring prominently on the fixture list - and Carragher has echoed that sentiment.

"We've got to concentrate on the Fulham game first," Carragher added. "We can't afford to look ahead to games in the future.

"If we were to take our eye off the game against Fulham we could end up losing that and maybe losing a bit of confidence for when we do play Chelsea."

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