Torres almost didn’t play!

Fernando Torres, who fired Liverpool back into the EPL title race on Sunday with the opening goal against Manchester United, almost did not start the crucial encounter. According to Reds manager Rafa Benitez, the decision to start Torres was made on the team bus just two hours before kickoff. "It was a difficult decision because Fernando hasn’t been training," he explained. "I talked with Fernando on the coach and after this I spoke with my staff and we decided to play him from the beginning. You could see that he was not 100% and you could see that he was not fresh but still sometimes 80% of Fernando can make a difference, as he did here." Torres provided the crucial goal on 65 minutes, and substitute David Ngog confirmed Liverpool’s superiority with a second in injury time.