Torres' grand homecoming...except not

It was the game many Liverpool fans had been looking to, as well as many Atletico fans. It was supposed to be Fernando Torres' grand homecoming, but an injury while on international duty with Spain ruled him out. He declined Atletico's offer to watch the game from a VIP seat in favour of continuing his recovery on Merseyside. Even without their star striker, Liverpool fielded more Spaniards than their Spanish league opposition. That's slightly embarassing for them, don't you think?

Anyway, to the football. The Atletico defence had some very shaky moments at the start, and had it not been for the uselessness of the Liverpool strike force, they could have got an early lead. The away kit is somewhat of a strange colour, it only looks good on certain people, and I spent the majority of the first half admiring the fact that Daniel Agger is one of these people. My god, I missed that boy and his tattoos. By the 15th minute, Liverpool had got their reward, Robbie Keane (yes, you did read that right) scoring the first of the game. The nerviest moment for Pepe Reina on the other hand was a poor header by Arbeloa, forcing the goalkeeper to spring into action and smother the ball before one of the incoming Atletico strikers put it in. After going 1-0 up, Liverpool seemed to stop playing for a while, sitting back on the ball rather than attacking. The referee wrongly booked Riera for diving late in the first half, it should have been a penalty kick.

The second half was pretty uneventful, Robbie Keane was withdrawn early on with a groin injury, and with the Chelsea game looming and Torres almost certainly out, Liverpool cannot afford to lose any more strikers. Atletico Madrid had a goal disallowed in the 55th minute, totally unfairly. Considering Liverpool's lead was from an offside position, it was not going well for the assistant referee in that side. They had more luck merely a minute later when Atletico crashed a shot against the post. Gerrard was substituted just before the hour mark with one eye on the clash with Chelsea this weekend. It was a very nervy second half, with Liverpool just needing to hang onto their lead in order to top the group. Unfortunately for them, they were unable to do so, and they can only take comfort in the fact that the referee's flag prevented them from losing all 3 points.