Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has spoken of his pride in Fernando Torres' Euro 2008 triumph as he has once again raided his homeland to bring in a new face at Anfield.
Benitez, overseeing the club's return to pre-season training on Monday, has given Torres an extra three weeks' holiday, along with the other Liverpool players in Spain's European championship-winning squad.
Jose Reina, Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa will all get extended breaks after Spain's outstanding performance in beating Germany in Sunday night's Vienna final - their country's first major honour in 44 years.
Benitez and Liverpool are basking in the reflected glory of their Spanish contingent, with Torres' winner in Vienna breaking the hearts of the German side.
The manager was quick to praise record signing Torres, who suffered some heavy criticism from the Spanish media during the tournament.
"I am very proud of Fernando, especially after he has been criticised from some journalists in Spain," Benitez said.
"Everyone in Spain remembers the Marcelino goal from 44 years ago (when Spain were last European champions), and the last final Spain were in was 24 years ago.
"Now people will talk about Torres in the same way, I am very proud of him and what he has achieved."
When the Spanish players do return to Anfield they will find former Liverpool and Valencia defender Mauricio Pellegrino installed as first-team coach.
Pellegrino played 12 matches for Liverpool under Benitez in 2005, having previously shared the title triumphs at Valencia with the Anfield boss.
The 36-year-old Argentinian has been working as a youth team coach at Valencia but will now return to Merseyside to join the backroom team that also has Sammy Lee recently installed as assistant manager.
Last season Benitez lost coach Alex Miller, who took up a management job with JEF United in Japan.
Monday also officially marked the departure of former coach Pako Ayesteran from Liverpool's payroll, having been on 'gardening leave' for much of the last campaign after a fall-out with Benitez.
Benitez said of Pellegrino: "His role will be first-team coach, and he will also carry out specialist training sessions.
"He can also work specifically with the defence, and also the reserves.
"Pellegrino has a winning mentality. He won the Inter-continental Cup before going to Spain with Barcelona and Valencia.
"He has a lot of passion. When I asked him to come he was very pleased, but first he wanted to find out if there was a school where his three children could play good football. He is a football man."
Benitez will now move in the next few days to sort out the future of midfielder Alonso, who has been on the verge of a move to Juventus since before Euro 2008 started.
Many Liverpool fans doubt the wisdom of selling a player who has become a European champion with club and country in the last three years, having played and scored when Liverpool won the Champions League against AC Milan in Istanbul in 2005.
But is seems Liverpool's paymasters believe Benitez has to sell before being able to complete the move for Aston Villa's Gareth Barry, with boss Martin O'Neill now saying that an £18million fee will secure the midfielder.
Benitez has already pulled in £4million from the sale of another Istanbul hero, John Arne Riise, while reserve goalkeeper Charles Itandje is set for a £2million move to Galatasaray.
Liverpool had 18 senior players reporting for training today, with others who had been involved for their countries during the summer being given an extra week off.
Non-internationals such as Jamie Carragher, Steve Finnan and Sami Hyypia all returned.
Benitez told the club's website, liverpoolfc.tv: "We have about 18 back today, then some of the internationals will be back in the next week. The four Spanish players should be back in three weeks."
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Comment 1 - 13 of 13
Torres by far is much more physical able and compose when comes to 1 on 1 situation even with the best defenders. He has the pace and speed like David Villa but one thing seperates them apart is that Torres uses he brains and physical strength to get pass defenders.
liverpool fans can be proud of what torres has achieved so far,my concern is that next season to much will be expected of him.
Im very proud of what torres has achieved for spain and for this club (liverpool). I think its a great decision by rafa to let the spanish players have 3 weeks rest, well deserved rest. However i think the signing of the first team coach was a bit of a rubbish decision because im sure he could have brought in a coach who already played for liverpool or was involved with them.
what a mistake rafael and the board are making.we need a board to bring back the bootroom.not hire rubbish but hire liverpool players who were loyal to the club to coach our players.those are the players the fans will respect not sammy lee as he was a traitor who ran away for money and is not a loyal respectable player for the club.
yes persiandud....... the name says it all, you reckon the most successfull team over the the last 3-4 years suck hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Please explain or met an adult to do it for you?
@audrey_betham: Yes, but that's because he has much more time to think his shots at the Premier. When he has to attack more closed defenses like the ones at la Liga or at this Eurocup he is too slow arming the shot. It's dissapointing because he has natural advantage over players like Villa, but Villa ends up being a better attacker because of this. And I think it is something Torres could improve, but well, we've been thinking this about Torres in Spain since too many years ago already. We thought he finally exploded at Liverpool, but he just showed it was just the result of Premier defenses and not him having changed. This of course doesn't make him any bad player, but many of us think he could be one of the greats.
alonso is the best.
oh wow liverpool always sucked and always will they suck they got no @#$% they got nuthin they suck
Cant somebody pls contact rafa n tell him not to be very keen on Barry as he's not even a better player than Alonso. Please we need someone here from the board or have some connection with the board to please made him realize that this is coming from majority of LFC fans all over the world, we should keep Alonso first, he's better than Barry on the pitch, he just dont have a good season recently for he just suffering some injury with his ankle ryte...then we can talk about coming and getting Barry out of Villa..
You guys know nothing about Liverpool FC and Torres. be quiet and watch your own crappy teams suck next season.
it because of the spanish players that i also watch Liverpool play. However I am a man u fan .
If you took a look at Torres' highlights while he was playing for Liverpool, you will see that he is by far one of the most accurate shooters of the Premier League last year. He has a flair for finding the back of the net. Maybe not as much for Spain, but only because in Spain the passes are alot more different. And he finds much better space in the Premier League, than he does anywhere else.
Ye, ye, but Torres needs to improve his hits if he doesn't want to be forever behind Villa. He's very fast and powerful, and get passing through the defenses easier, but misses too much in the moment of putting the ball in the net.
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