As ever, the television cameras were trained on Fernando Torres, tracking the Spaniard’s every movement and reaction at a packed Anfield.
The problem for Liverpool is their star striker was once again sat in the stands as his former club Atletico Madrid came within seconds of returning home with a surprise victory on Wednesday night.
Some charitable officiating and Steven Gerrard’s nerves of steel meant, as at the Vicente Calderon two weeks earlier, the spoils were shared with both teams edging nearer the knockout stages of the Champions League.
But Liverpool’s inability to find a way past erratic Atletico goalkeeper Leo Franco from open play underlined why Torres is being sorely missed.
It was a similar story five days earlier, when the Spaniard’s presence may have prevented the profligacy from Benitez’s side that allowed Tottenham Hotspur to somehow steal a 2-1 victory at White Hart Lane last Saturday.
Torres has now sat out six games with the hamstring injury sustained while on international duty with Spain in Belgium last month.
However, even if the striker fails to overcome the problem in time for Saturday’s visit of struggling West Bromwich Albion, midfielder Javier Mascherano is confident Liverpool will soon click into goalscoring gear once more.
“We’re certainly not worried about missing chances, the most important thing is that we have had a lot of them,” says the Argentine. “That proves we are playing well.
“Sometimes we’ve missed a few, yes, but we’re creating a lot so I don’t think we have anything to worry about. We know we’ve won important games without Torres but obviously he’s a key player for us and it’s much better to have him there.
“Of course we have others who can score, like Keane, Gerrard and sometimes players like Riera. But obviously Fernando is the main one for us and I have no worries because in the next game we could end up scoring plenty of goals.
“It’s not something we should be worried about, as I said the main thing is just to play well and we are.”
Liverpool have won three, drawn two and lost one of the games Torres has missed. But since the 3-2 win over Wigan Athletic, they have scored just one goal in each of their last five outings.
Of course, accusations of the Anfield outfit being a one-man team were made redundant earlier this season when both Manchester United and Chelsea were beaten without any help from Torres.
But there’s no doubt Liverpool are a more potent outfit with the Spaniard, with Robbie Keane in particular toiling as the spearhead of a 4-2-3-1 formation favoured by Benitez in recent weeks that is far more suited to Torres.
Keane again fired a blank against Atletico – it’s just two goals in 18 games since his near £20million summer move from Tottenham Hotspur – but Mascherano didn’t mind who was on target provided Liverpool avoided defeat.
We deserved to win on Wednesday, but when it gets so close to the end the main thing then is just to make sure you don’t lose,” he says. “We’re still up there with Atletico and know if we win our next game, we could end up on top of the group.
“It’s too early yet to start talking of winning trophies but I think we will be fighting for titles if we carry on playing like we are.
“Two weeks ago people were talking of us as being contenders because we’d beaten Chelsea, so we know things can change quickly in football, but it’s not something to worry about.”
Mascherano has been a resounding success at Liverpool since his arrival almost two years ago.
And that consistent form has been noted by new Argentina manager Diego Maradona, who has already earmarked the midfielder as the new captain of the national team.
But Mascherano says: “I haven’t turned down the chance to be captain because I’ve not spoken to Maradona yet. And at the moment we have a captain in (Javier) Zanetti, who has played for Argentina for 14 years and won 125 caps, so we need to respect that.
“For everyone in Argentina it will maybe be a shock having him as manager, but it’s great as well. It will be fantastic. Now we need to help him as players too and help him take Argentina to the top of the world.
“We all know Diego gave us so much as a player and now we hope maybe he can give us many things as a manager as well. To us he is like God. He’s the best player we’ve had in our history, the best player football’s ever had.”
Another player in which Maradona is expected to place his faith is Atletico Madrid’s talented teenager Sergio Aguero, who came on as substitute on Wednesday.
Benitez revealed last month that, had finances permitted, he would have been keen to sign Aguero before he made his move to Madrid.
And Mascherano says: “He’s certainly good enough to play in the Premier League. He’s a fantastic player, very strong with a very good technique and a good finisher, although at the moment I think Messi is maybe one step higher.
“But I think it would help Aguero by playing for a big club in England. He’s doing very well in Spain and I don’t see why it wouldn’t be the same over here.”
The problem for Liverpool is their star striker was once again sat in the stands as his former club Atletico Madrid came within seconds of returning home with a surprise victory on Wednesday night.
Some charitable officiating and Steven Gerrard’s nerves of steel meant, as at the Vicente Calderon two weeks earlier, the spoils were shared with both teams edging nearer the knockout stages of the Champions League.
But Liverpool’s inability to find a way past erratic Atletico goalkeeper Leo Franco from open play underlined why Torres is being sorely missed.
It was a similar story five days earlier, when the Spaniard’s presence may have prevented the profligacy from Benitez’s side that allowed Tottenham Hotspur to somehow steal a 2-1 victory at White Hart Lane last Saturday.
Torres has now sat out six games with the hamstring injury sustained while on international duty with Spain in Belgium last month.
However, even if the striker fails to overcome the problem in time for Saturday’s visit of struggling West Bromwich Albion, midfielder Javier Mascherano is confident Liverpool will soon click into goalscoring gear once more.
“We’re certainly not worried about missing chances, the most important thing is that we have had a lot of them,” says the Argentine. “That proves we are playing well.
“Sometimes we’ve missed a few, yes, but we’re creating a lot so I don’t think we have anything to worry about. We know we’ve won important games without Torres but obviously he’s a key player for us and it’s much better to have him there.
“Of course we have others who can score, like Keane, Gerrard and sometimes players like Riera. But obviously Fernando is the main one for us and I have no worries because in the next game we could end up scoring plenty of goals.
“It’s not something we should be worried about, as I said the main thing is just to play well and we are.”
Liverpool have won three, drawn two and lost one of the games Torres has missed. But since the 3-2 win over Wigan Athletic, they have scored just one goal in each of their last five outings.
Of course, accusations of the Anfield outfit being a one-man team were made redundant earlier this season when both Manchester United and Chelsea were beaten without any help from Torres.
But there’s no doubt Liverpool are a more potent outfit with the Spaniard, with Robbie Keane in particular toiling as the spearhead of a 4-2-3-1 formation favoured by Benitez in recent weeks that is far more suited to Torres.
Keane again fired a blank against Atletico – it’s just two goals in 18 games since his near £20million summer move from Tottenham Hotspur – but Mascherano didn’t mind who was on target provided Liverpool avoided defeat.
We deserved to win on Wednesday, but when it gets so close to the end the main thing then is just to make sure you don’t lose,” he says. “We’re still up there with Atletico and know if we win our next game, we could end up on top of the group.
“It’s too early yet to start talking of winning trophies but I think we will be fighting for titles if we carry on playing like we are.
“Two weeks ago people were talking of us as being contenders because we’d beaten Chelsea, so we know things can change quickly in football, but it’s not something to worry about.”
Mascherano has been a resounding success at Liverpool since his arrival almost two years ago.
And that consistent form has been noted by new Argentina manager Diego Maradona, who has already earmarked the midfielder as the new captain of the national team.
But Mascherano says: “I haven’t turned down the chance to be captain because I’ve not spoken to Maradona yet. And at the moment we have a captain in (Javier) Zanetti, who has played for Argentina for 14 years and won 125 caps, so we need to respect that.
“For everyone in Argentina it will maybe be a shock having him as manager, but it’s great as well. It will be fantastic. Now we need to help him as players too and help him take Argentina to the top of the world.
“We all know Diego gave us so much as a player and now we hope maybe he can give us many things as a manager as well. To us he is like God. He’s the best player we’ve had in our history, the best player football’s ever had.”
Another player in which Maradona is expected to place his faith is Atletico Madrid’s talented teenager Sergio Aguero, who came on as substitute on Wednesday.
Benitez revealed last month that, had finances permitted, he would have been keen to sign Aguero before he made his move to Madrid.
And Mascherano says: “He’s certainly good enough to play in the Premier League. He’s a fantastic player, very strong with a very good technique and a good finisher, although at the moment I think Messi is maybe one step higher.
“But I think it would help Aguero by playing for a big club in England. He’s doing very well in Spain and I don’t see why it wouldn’t be the same over here.”
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