Fernando Torres suffered a dismal debut as Chelsea’s £50 million striker was substituted following a lacklustre display in his new side’s 1-0 defeat against his former club Liverpool yesterday.
Torres was hauled off after just 66 minutes of his first Chelsea appearance and the Spain striker had even more reason to forget his Stamford Bridge bow when Liverpool’s Raul Meireles bagged the winner for his old team just moments after his premature exit.
The 26-year-old claims he had to join Chelsea because Liverpool are a club in transition with little chance of challenging for major honours.
On this evidence, Torres may come to regret his decision to demand a move.
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish won the tactical battle with his Chelsea counterpart Carlo Ancelotti and defeat leaves the Blues, who are 10 points behind leaders Manchester United, with virtually little chance of retaining the Premier League title.
Dalglish’s side are now just six points behind Chelsea and it is not impossible that Torres could see his former team beat his new club to a place in the Champions League.
There were friendly greetings for Torres from his old colleagues before kick-off, although the Liverpool fans wasted little time giving him a rough ride as they unfurled a host of abusive banners with messages like “once a red, in our hearts you are dead” and “he who betrays will always walk alone”.
Whistles and chants of “Judas” greeted his every touch, but Torres had a golden opportunity to silence those taunts in the second minute.
Maxi Rodriguez’s wayward pass gave Torres a clear sight of goal from the edge of the area but his hurried shot sailed high over the bar. However, with Liverpool playing three centre-backs there was little room for Torres to influence the game and he was crowded out whenever the ball came his way.
Torres was a completely anonymous figure. The Spaniard has been well below his best for much of this season and this was another strangely subdued display.
There was no obvious sign of any understanding between Torres and Drogba and Ancelotti had clearly seen enough. The Blues boss decided to send on Salomon Kalou in place of Torres in the 66th minute, prompting a jubilant chorus of “you should have stayed at a big club” from Liverpool’s fans.
Then, when Steven Gerrard whipped over a low cross in the 69th minute, goalkeeper Cech and team-mate Ivanovic left the task of clearing to each other and Meireles punished the Chelsea players’ confusion by steering the loose ball into the net from close-range.
Results
Chelsea 0
Liverpool 1
Meireles 69;
HT: 0-0. Att: 41,829.
West Ham 0
Birmingham 1
Zigic 65;
HT: 0-0. Att: 32,927.
Next fixtures
Saturday: 13.45 Man. United vs Man. City. 16.00 Arsenal vs Wolves; Birmingham vs Stoke City; Blackburn vs Newcastle; Blackpool vs Aston Villa; Liverpool vs Wigan; West Brom vs West Ham. 18.30 Sunderland vs Tottenham.
Sunday: 17.00 Bolton vs Everton.
Feb. 14: 21.00 Fulham vs Chelsea.
The Championship
Swansea 0 - Cardiff 1