Gerrard and Torres in key for Benitez's band of brothers.
They called him "El Nino" in Spain and, for a while last night, Fernando Torres did look like a kid. But it is a nickname that the 24-year-old has outgrown.
Some of that may be due to the fact that, in Steven Gerrard, he has got a big brother to protect and provide for him and that, at Liverpool, he is now playing for a bigger club than Atletico Madrid who he left last summer for that big fee. The rest is down to his sheer talent and application. But the effectiveness of the partnership between Torres and Gerrard, and the outstanding goal return of the former, had dominated much of the build-up to this encounter.
The Liverpool manager, Rafael Benitez, said that Torres was the key and, if he is, then Gerrard is the man who turns that key in the lock.