Torres breaks Ruud record
by Ben Blackmore, 11 May 2008
Fernando Torres ended his outstanding first season in English football with a record-breaking goal as Liverpool wrapped up their campaign with a 2-0 win at Tottenham.
“El Nino” scored a trademark Torres goal to notch up 24 league goals in a season, beating Ruud van Nistelrooy’s total for the best first season total by a foreign player.
Torres’s strike wrapped an easy victory for Liverpool that had been set up by Andriy Voronin’s earlier strike, on a day when Spurs played like there was nothing riding on the result.
Both teams already have European qualification secured, both teams had little to play for. It was time to look for signs of improvement for next season.
If Spurs’ new home shirt was anything to go by, Juande Ramos’ followers may be in line for a tough year next season.
Paul Robinson and even Aaron Lennon may not be around to see it, with the former left on the bench again while Lennon did not feature in the 16.
Liverpool gave a Premier League start to young Argentine left back Emiliano Insua – a player who continues to add to his considerable promise with another classy display at White Hart Lane.
Potential summer departees Peter Crouch, Jermaine Pennant and John Arne Riise were all missing, but Xabi Alonso was injured - not dropped.
And so to the action and the players with points to prove.
For Tottenham, Jermaine Jenas and Didier Zokora continued to show a lack of imagination between them in midfield, Dimitar Berbatov having their only effort of the first half, bringing a full stretch save from Jose Reina with a header. Will the Bulgarian be at The Lane next season?
Michael Dawson's Tottenham future is on shaky ground and he is still trying to catch up with Torres now after he was skinned for the clinching goal.
Liverpool gave Voronin a rare start, while Ryan Babel and Alan Hutton embarked on a superb battle down Liverpool’s left flank – the Dutchman testing Radek Cerny with Liverpool’s best effort of a forgettable opening 45.
Cerny claims he will be off to QPR next season and if he does, he gave a good showing in his last game for Tottenham.
Steven Gerrard and Torres, you’ve probably heard of them, combined with a sharp one-two ten minutes into the second half but Cerny saved well from the Spaniard with his feet.
Liverpool looked the more likely to score and they really should have done soon after, Voronin choosing to pass the ball to Cerny rather than shoot from the edge of the area.
The charitable mood was catching and when Gerrard inexplicably found Steed Malbranque on the edge of the Liverpool box, Robbie Keane nearly found Reina’s far corner from the Frenchman’s cleverly-disguised reverse pass.
It appeared both sides had suddenly realised the need to entertain before their summer’s rest, and with 20 minutes left it was Voronin who found the breakthrough, getting ahead of Hutton to poke Torres’ flick-on past Cerny.
Spurs’ response inevitably came through Berbatov, who showed magnificent control before exploding into a 25-yard volley that Reina tipped over.
From one world class striker to another, and it was Torres who went one better, scoring an absolute trademark Torres goal.
Squaring up Dawson, the Spaniard simply dropped a shoulder, raced past the centre back and poked home his record-breaking goal.
So a season of underachievement for Rafa's Reds. But surely he has more talent at his disposal than in any of his previous three close seasons.