Torres shows he's Lille deal

FRINGE players may have been revolting off the pitch, but on it Liverpool stand relieved and increasingly revived.

A first goal in Europe from Fernando Torres since April 2009 added to Steven Gerrard's early penalty and allowed Liverpool to squeeze beyond a talented Lille side. There were just seconds left when Torres showed how sharp he was by tucking home the rebound off a Gerrard shot.

As ever, the margins between success and failure were wafer-thin and had Pepe Reina not somehow prevented Eden Hazard's first-half effort, Riera's barbs could have be married with a ripple of boos.

The watching Diego Maradona, in the North-west to check on the members of his Argentina World Cup squad, will have seen with his own eyes that rumours of Liverpool's struggles are not without substance.

Benitez will not care less about that today and celebrate that, for once, there were simply no more dramas on or off the field.

Lille emerged for their pre-match walkabout 90 minutes before kick-off clicking cameras and pretending to conduct the 2,400-strong bank of visiting supporters, who had set about creating a thunderous din the moment Anfield threw open its doors.

Yet, in eking out their slender advantage a week ago, they had proved themselves far better equipped than to leave here simply armed with a few souvenir snap-shots.

That the onus was on his players to force the initiative seldom sits comfortably with Benitez, who prefers to sit and counter, while the absence of Alberto Aquilani with a virus deprived Liverpool of a creative outlet.

Seldom could Benitez have imagined his response to solving the conundrum would bring such a swift reward. Lucas was asked to play 10 yards further forward than he has for most of the season and the Brazilian surged into the penalty area with a slalom run fitting of his roots, which cleverly enabled him to fall over Adil Rami's outstretched leg.

Gerrard, captaining Liverpool for the 300th time, sent Mickael Landreau the wrong way from the spot and the Kop's pulse racing.

Had the approach play of Torres, who bamboozled Emerson when seemingly trapped by the corner flag and then evaded the sliding challenge of Aurelien Chedjou, been matched by his finish minutes later frayed nerves could have been soothed further.

A scuffed effort was screwed wide, however, and as has often been the case this season the early tumult subsided to offer Lille the encouragement to showcase their own skills.

Not that they should have needed it. Rudi Garcia's side had scored in 31 of their past 33 league and European matches and that impressive sequence should have been extended just after the half-hour mark as they warmed to their task.

Hazard's late free-kick might have been little more than fluke seven days ago, but his latest attempt to find his way on to the scoresheet was from the realms of fantasy that Maradona would have approved.

A lightning burst from little Belgian Hazard, who has a big future, saw him swap passes with Yohan Cabaye before squeezing himself beyond both Glen Johnson and Daniel Agger and ensuring he had only Reina to beat.

The goalkeeper knew little about the dinked effort that followed as it struck him on the side of his head, but the anguished gasps from the visiting fans said everything as the ball ricocheted wide. Liverpool's response saw Dirk Kuyt twist away from Chedjou and cross for Torres, who headed wide while admittedly under pressure.

It was an opening that left the striker muttering under his breath, but he did not have to wait too long to atone.

Minutes after the break Rami inexplicably misjudged Ryan Babel's hopeful punt forward by allowing it to bounce over his head and Torres pounced in a flash.

He was ushered wide by Chedjou, but when Landreau advanced from his line Torres' sublime touch was everything that Hazard's had not been and nestled in the corner. That was greeted as if ushering a sea change but did not change the reality that until the 89th minute a reply would have left Liverpool needing to find a response.

Sub Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang went perilously close with a side-footed effort from Ludovic Obraniak's free-kick but, for once in Europe this term, there was to be no sting in the tail.

This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.