Agent: Torres Could Leave Liverpool

Torres: Looking for greener pastures?

Spain and Liverpool striker Fernando Torres’ agent, Jose Anotonio Martin, has hinted that the player will leave Liverpool after the World Cup.

“It is very likely that Fernando Torres will stay in the Premier League, but I cannot say that it will be with Liverpool,” he told the Daily Mail.

“We are working on his future but right now you cannot guarantee that he will stay with the English club.”

Though how appealing the striker will be to top clubs, given his none-too impressive form in the ongoing World Cup, remains to be seen. Among Premier League clubs, Chelsea and Manchester City have been linked to the striker off and on, with other clubs backing down from the player’s wage demands of 100,000 pounds a week.

Liverpool, who underwent a managerial change earlier in the summer, are presently in a fix. Having finished seventh in the Premier League and out of Champions League competition this season, the fans vented out their anger at the former manager Rafa Benitez and the club owners. Eventually, Benitez moved on to the European champions Inter Milan, and Roy Hodgson was brought in to handle matters at the club.

Benitez has made no secret of the fact that he is very interested in getting Mascherano and Kuyt to his new club in Milan. Also, rumors have been ringing linking influential captain Steven Gerrard to Real Madrid, where Jose Mourinho will set about building a trophy-winning squad. Yossi Benayoun has already left for Chelsea.

Among the players left, only Agger, Torres and Reina are what pundits are considering to be world class material.

Torres had a forgettable season, plagued by injuries, and seemed unhappy with several decisions that Benitez made. He has also not exactly shown his attacking prowess so far at the World Cup. In fact, Spain looked a much better team once he was substituted for Cesc Fabregas.

With Hodgson intent on building a squad from the ground up, and bringing back some much needed team chemistry, Torres will have to resign himself to the fact that should he stay at Liverpool, he could be in for another season without silverware, especially considering that the Europa league also has Manchester City, who at present, look much better off on paper than Liverpool. And with Hodgson going to put more emphasis on the youth development of English players, it might be time for Torres to ply his trade elsewhere.

The Truth behind Benitez

The man who dared the Reds to dream, and showed them a nightmare instead. The man who worked incredible bargains, and produced major flops alongside. The man who coupld win the European Champion’s League, but only one of his last nine fixtures.

With Benitez now at the helm of Inter Milan, the time has come to analyze how many of his crtitc’s statements are true. No doubt there were many – but how many of them stand ground?

Just what has Benitez done for Liverpool?

1. The Glory:

Rafa Benitez is a good tactician and there is no doubt about it

Benitez managed Liverpool through an incredible Champions Leaguye campaign in 2005 that saw them win the finals in Istanbul against AC Milan in spite of being 0 – 3 down after the first half.  He led them to an FA Cup triumph the year later. Another Champions League finals a year after that. All the while finishing fifth, third third, and later second in the Premiership. Considering what Liverpool were like under Houllier, no doubt Benitez brought back the glory days back to the Kop.

Despite a European Cup success and an FA Cup success, both won since Arsene Wenger last delivered a trophy to Arsenal’s trophy cabinet, the 50-year-old Spaniard has faced a torrent of inexplicable pressure from the media, ex-players and other ‘expert’ commentators on his contribution to the Merseyside giants.

2. The Bargains:

When he took over, Benitez considered Liverpool (as did many of the supporters), to be at least nine players short of championship material. But with the arrival of Pepe Reina, Torres, Agger, Alonso, Mascherano and Kuyt, Benitez transformed the core of the team into a force to be reckoned with.

Where Did Benitez Fail?

1. The Boardroom:

That Rafa had frequent run-ins with the management of the company is no big secret. More than football, politics in the upper echelons of the management might ave foreced rafa out of Merseyside.

2. Man-Management:

Separately, Torres, Gerrard and Carragher have all said that they struggle to think of conversations with Benitez that weren’t about football. It suggests he is only interested in footballers as players, rather than as people. Alonso’s departure last year can certainly be attributed to Benitez’s attitude during his attempts to sell his fellow Spaniard the previous summer.

It was a complaint voiced by Pennant, who said he was frustrated by his manager’s continual presence on the touchline, forever conveying orders. Benitez could respond that his attention to detail has been responsible for some of his tactical triumphs and that tinkering with his players’ positions has had benefits.

Benitez will have more finances at Inter

3. The Transfer Window:

Say what you want about lack of finances at the Kop – but Benitez has had tough luck when it comes to choosing a good player. More players have flopped at Liverpool under him than he would like to think. Craig Bellamy produced better form in two months at Eastlands than his two years under Benitez. Strikers such as Crouch and Keane left as soon as the Torres-Gerrard partnership flourished and threatened to plac ethem on the bench. Morientes, Voronin, Babel, Keane, Dossena, Penant, Luis Garcia…. it has been quite a list.

Is it fair to axe a man for one bad season after five successful ones? We will never really know. Can he do better with the resources he is given at Inter? Only time will tell. But one thing is for sure – Rafa Benitez has left a legacy behind him

Jose Iner-rupts Barca's Run

Last night bore witness to a ten-man Inter Milan dump Barcelona out of the Champion's League.

What was the most striking sight of the night? Was it the Camp Nou filled to capacity with 96,000 screaming fans? Or was it the sight of Mourinho running onto the ground when it was over? Or was it Busquets going down like he was a shot after what seemed like a 'soft' push by Motta? I truly do not know. But what I do know, is that the character shown by Internazionale was the stuff of legend.

The build up to the match had been striking enough - between Mourinho stating that Barcelona was "obsessed" with reaching the finals in the Bernabau, home turf of their bitter-most rivals Madrid, Gerard Pique connecting with the fans and asking them to make the atmosphere electric enough to make inter hate football for 90 minutes, this had promised to be a cracker of a contest. When Inter won the home leg 3-1, several critics doubted their ability to hold out against a rampant Barcelona team on a wider pitch, with a faster outfield. But as it turned out, Inter Milan did all that - and more!

There was intense drama right before the match... Mourinho named Sneijder in starting eleven, even though the midfielder was not 100 percent fit after his hamstring problem against Atlanta. Messi had scored 17 goals in two Champions League tournaments so far - 9 in the last year's edition, and 8 so far in this year's. Barcelona's centre-back Gabriel Milito was set to face older brother and Inter's forward, Diego, as Barca looked to the home atmosphere to pull them through. Barcelona were also not without their injury problems, with Andres Iniesta (thigh) and Eric Abidal (groin) not in the squad.


Just a few minutes before the match, Jose Mourniho withdrew striker Pandev for defender Christian Chivu, citing an injury to the forward. But whether this was a genuine injury, or a tactical switch after seeing Barcelona's 3-4-3 attacking formation is yet to be seen. The Inter manager might be asked to produce evidence of the injury.

The match itself saw Barcelona hold all the possession - at one point it was close to 80%. But Inter looked pretty stable, with very little gap between their defense and midfield.

Incessant whistling followed Inter whenever they had the ball, with the home fans showing their displeasure towards Mourinho, who had worked as a translator at Nou Camp for four years in the early stages his career. More ire followed his words over the week, and about Figo's presence as Inter's ambassador. (The Barcelona fans never really forgave him after his move to Real).

Barcelona seemed to be camped inside the Inter half for long periods in the first half, but Inter matched them metre for metre, denying them any space at all. Then came Motta's sending off.

Thiago Motta had already been booked earlier for hauling down Ibrahimovic in the 10th minute, but was shown red for his challenge on Sergi Busquets. It looked like a soft push, though, and Busquets went down like a sack, clutching his face. Replays showed him looking at the referee in between, before writhing in agony once again, in a sickening display of what Mourinho had warned referees of before the game itself.

With Motta trudging back furiously, Inter adopted an even more defensive approach, with their lone striker, Milito striking a lone figure up front.

The second half continued the story of the first, with Barcelona having all the possession, but unable to put the final touch. Ibrahimovic was largely nonthreatening on the night, and fans looked to Messi to deliver the killer punch. Pep Guardiola replaced Milito with Maxwellat the break, and later Ibrahimovic with Bojan in an effort to infuse some fresh legs into his attack. Jeffren came on to replace Busquets.

Mourinho brought on Muntari to replace Sneijder, who had had an excellent night out despite his lack of fitness.

While Xavi and Messi dictated play in the Inter half, Barcelona failed to put a telling ball into the final third, the closest coming through Bojan, who headed Messi's delightful cross in from the left just agonizingly wide. Inter's night was pretty much summed up when even Eto'o was back at the post, making a vital interception.

But the game changed suddenly in the 84th minute, when Pique showed great composure to turn his marker, and slot the ball past the effervescent Julio Cesar into the empty net.

All of a sudden Barcelona fans were on the edge of their seats, and watched as Barcelona applied incessant pressure on Inter in the final five minutes, plus four minutes added time. And so it ended, Inter losing the second leg 0-1, but going through to the finals for the first time since 1972, on a 3-2 aggregate.

So this leaves us heading towards the Bernabau on May 22nd, where Mourinho will meet his former mentor Van Gaal, and Inter Milan will face Bayern Munich in the final. What a match that will be to look forward to!