What would we do to have Fernando Torres back at Liverpool, playing at the peak of his powers? The 31-year-old, now back with boyhood club Atletico Madrid, made career appearance number 700 on Saturday, a 3-0 win over Elche.
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After the match he posted this nostalgic collage of famous images on Twitter:
Following his milestone, we thought it was the perfect moment to take a look back at his best moments in a Liverpool shirt. In the list below our are top five…
5) Back-to-back hat-tricks (February-March 2008)
There was no stopping Fernando Torres during his first season on Merseyside. The Spaniard won his first Premier League Player of the Month award in February 2008, shortly after bagging a hat-trick against Middlesbrough. He scored his second successive treble at Anfield just ten days later, in a 4-0 win over West Ham United. This made him the first Liverpool player in over 60 years to score back-to-back three goal hauls in home matches.
4) Completing a record breaking season (May 2008)
Torres ended a prolific first season at Anfield with 33 goals in 46 games in all competitions, still the best season of his professional career. His tally eclipsed Michael Owen’s record for goals in a season and saw him nominated for the PFA Player of the Year award, which he missed out on to Cristiano Ronaldo. He also became the first Liverpool player to score more than 20 league goals in a season since Robbie Fowler and equalled the record for consecutive appearances at Anfield with a league goal. His tally of eight matches the same as Roger Hunt.
3) Torres scores twice in epic comeback (October 2008)
After an injury-plagued start to his second season, Torres announced his return with wonderful performances against Everton and Manchester City. He scored twice as we claimed before the Merseyside derby before netting twice more as we came from two goals down to win 3-2. Dirk Kuyt scored the injury time winner for Rafael Benitez’s side after Stephen Ireland and Javier Garrido had given the home side a commanding lead.
2) Torres stars in Real Madrid & Man United annihilations (March 2009)
Two of the best Liverpool performances in the last decade came within the space of four days, with Torres at the forefront of both big wins. He scored the opening goal as we stuffed Real Madrid 4-0, completing a simply ridiculous 5-0 aggregate victory, before netting the equaliser at Old Trafford, a game we would go on to win 4-1. Steven Gerrard (3), Andrea Dossena (2) and Fabio Aurelio also scored in the back-to-back victories.
1) Anfield comeback as all is forgiven (March 2015)
There were big question marks over what sort of reception Torres would receive upon his return to Anfield, just over four years on from his highly controversial £50m deadline day move to Chelsea. It’s a credit to the Liverpool fans that the reception was virtually impeccable, with most supporters delighted to see the Spaniard line-up alongside another former favourite, Luis Suarez. Neither player scored but it was a dream-like 45 minutes for most inside Anfield that day.
