Monday, February 09, 2009

Fernando Torres Wants 'Irreplaceable' Steven Gerrard Back Soon For Liverpool


The Spanish striker wants his England international team-mate fit and firing again as soon as possible.

As Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez faces criticism that he is over-reliant on the superlative talents of his attacking duo Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, it would seem that the Spanish half of that formiable partnership may be a little guilty of the same thing, with some comments in the Spanish media today suggesting that Gerrard's absence with a hamstring injury is troubling Torres deeply.

Liverpool managed to secure a last gasp 3-2 victory over Portmsouth at Fratton Park yesterday, with the help of a goal from Torres, but at times such an outcome looked unlikely, with the Reds fielding an unfamiliar looking line-up due to injury and the well-publicised fatigue of the squad.

Despite that success, Torres is eager for his talismanic skipper to return to first-team action as soon as possible.

"He is irreplaceable," the striker said of Gerrard to AS. "Every great team has a model player, one whose home is there, one who stays there for life.

"People come and people go and he always stays. Here that's Gerrard. Liverpool is him and 10 others. He is everything for us.

"They're saying he'll be out for three weeks, let's hope it's less. I hope and would love his lay-off to be shorter."

Gerrard's injury will also prevent him from facing his team-mate in England's much-anticipated friendly with Spain in Seville next week.

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