Torres: An Intimate Portrait of the Kid Who Became King

minute
     
    Cristiano Ronaldo blasts a free-kick from miles out and Reina almost makes a howler. He manages to get his hands round the ball after fumbling, just before Tévez arrives …

36th minute
     
    Yellow card for Jamie Carragher for going in dangerously.

37th minute
     
    Rio Ferdinand goes yellow for a dangerous tackle.

41st minute
     
    Torres releases Riera on the left into the Manchester 6-yard box. Ferdinand gets there in the nick of time to sweep clear.

43rd minute
     
    Penalty to Liverpool. The Kid takes the ball outside the penalty area and when the United central defenders come out to get him he does a half-turn and slides in a perfect pass between the lines for Gerrard who is in the area. It is all Evra can do to stop the captain by fouling him.

44th minute
     
    Yellow card for Edwin Van der Sar for protesting.

44th minute
     
    GOAL, GERRARD! MANCHESTER UNITED 1 LIVERPOOL 2
    Van der Sar just manages to touch the ball but the shot from the Reds’ captain is well-placed and struck hard.

45th minute +3
     
    Gerrard again. His thunderbolt is cleared by O’Shea. Manchester United reply in the shape of Tévez, who wins a corner. Nothing actually happens as the referee blows for half-time.

Half-time
     
    An exciting game with no let up in play. Liverpool are deservedly ahead and have read the game well.
    The second half gets under way.

48th minute
     
    Cross by Ronaldo and the ball squirms away from Reina and hits the post.

49th minute
     
    Torres collides with Tévez and has damaged his already injured ankle, but he seems able to play on.

59th minute
     
    United dominate play and buzz the Liverpool penalty area, but they aren’t creating too much danger.

60th minute
     
    A yellow for Javier Mascherano.

64th minute
     
    Yellow card for Skrtel for fouling Tévez.

66th minute
     
    Gerrard leads the first attacking move from Liverpool in the second half. It ends with a shot by Leiva from the edge of the box. Van der Sar fields it.

68th minute
     
    A Liverpool change – Andrea Dossena comes on for Albert Riera.

71st minute
     
    Great chance for United – Tévez almost manufactures a goal out of a dead ball in the area.

73rd minute
     
    Triple substitution by Manchester United. Anderson, Ji-Sung Park and Michael Carrick are replaced by Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Dimitar Berbatov.

76th minute
     
    Vidic is red-carded. As with the Torres goal, the United defender is beaten by the ball. Gerrard breaks away on his own and the Serbian has no choice but to grab him and throw him to the ground. There’s no arguing about the referee’s decision.

77th minute
     
    GOAL, AURELIO! MANCHESTER UNITED 1 LIVERPOOL 3
    A sweet shot from Fabio Aurelio that goes right in the block-hole. That’s how to shoot free-kicks! The Brazilian master-fully converts the foul given away by Vidic for pulling.

78th minute
     
    Torres tries a deep pass to his skipper. But Gerrard is caught offside.

79th minute
     
    Torres tries to catch Van der Sar out from the centre of the pitch, but the shot strays very high and to the left.

81st minute
     
    Second change by Liverpool. Fernando Torres goes off and Ryan Babel comes on.
    Nine minutes later, Fernando smiles and celebrates Liverpool’s fourth on the bench – a masterly effort by Andrea Dossena. As he did against Madrid, the Italian brings the Reds’ cracking game to a close. The score-line is 1-4. Amazing – the statistics say as much.
    The last time United let in four goals at home was New Year’s Day 1992 against Queens Park Rangers. Liverpool’s 4-1 win is the second biggest since November 1936, when the Reds won 5-2. And while we’re on the subject of statistics, it should be remembered that this is Rafa Benítez’s 100th win since he arrived in the Premier. But the main thing is that the league is still open.
    ‘They think it’s all over … it isn’t now’ runs the headline in the
Sunday Times
, above a huge photo of Torres battling it out with Vidic. Torres, together with Gerrard, is the hero of Old Trafford – the star of Liverpool’s big week. Two wins and eight goals scored in five days. The Reds’ captain pays tribute to his team-mate: ‘He’s magic. He’s the world’s greatest striker and a lot of people probably agree with me.’ And he’s right. Plaudits from all sides are fantastic. Let’s leave the English and the Spanish to one side, as they are too closely involved here, and see what Giancarlo Galavotti writes in
La Gazzetta dello