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Fernando Torres vs Real Madrid

The best objectives won't ever score: Fernando Torres versus Real Madrid, '09

Whenever Iker Casillas is going to Fabio Cannavaro to shake the general hand signal for 'quiet the f*ck down, you know something unprecedented has occurred.

 Come the night's end of March 10, 2009, when Real Madrid went to Anfield for the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 ties against Liverpool, Casillas was decreased to simply shaking his head in acquiescence.

We have a ton of familiarity with these sort of evenings at Anfield at this point, when the resistance appears to wind up lost amid a storm of red shirts and scouse yells, left to get the bits of occasions like the morning following a night in Amsterdam - and the issue at hand was obvious to everyone for Casillas and co after only three minutes.

There are so many incredible Fernando Torres minutes to browse his time at Liverpool - his first objective for the club against Chelsea, the volley against Blackburn Rovers, the various times he tormented Nemanja Vidic and Manchester United - yet that third moment against Real Madrid maybe exemplifies the striker at his elating best.

Torres had limped out of Liverpool's 1-0 triumph in the primary leg following an hour because of a lower leg injury and just made the beginning XI for the return apparatus following a painkilling infusion and long stretches of begging Rafa Benitez that he was fit and prepared.

As though the inspiration of arriving at the Champions League quarter-finals wasn't sufficient, as a childhood Atletico Madrid ally, he was never going to pass up on the opportunity to put Real to the blade.

Thus, after a minimal more than 180 seconds, he did this.

Fabio Cannavaro was formed in the great custom of tasteful Italian place backs whose strength can be found in their capacity to peruse the game and outfox their adversaries as opposed to tormenting them with actual ability.

As a World Cup-winning commander and the last protector to win the Ballon d'Or, Cannavaro satisfied countryman Paolo Maldini's hypothesis: "On the off chance that I need to make a tackle, I have as of now committed an error."

For a footballer who guarded with such masterfulness, it's just fitting that he was tortured by a piece of play so lovely.

You can lament the way that Torres was therefore denied by Iker Casillas, who created a dazzling individual showcase despite eventually surrendering four objectives, however, flawlessness is exhausting. Torres has generally been all around as defective as most of us; that has helped make him such a charming player all through his profession.

What's more, in any case, those two seconds between gathering the ball and testing Casillas were considerably more huge than attempting to score. They were an admonition to Real Madrid, and a sign of expectation from Anfield.

All things being equal, he passed on it until the sixteenth moment to at long last gets this show on the road, so, all in all Casillas had been constrained into one more fantastic prevent from Javier Mascherano's volley, and the guests' back four were enduring with mental meltdowns.

After a long ball was permitted to bob, Cannavaro ruined an endeavored leeway under tension from Torres, and Pepe plunged to the floor in his own punishment box with the striker breathing down his neck. Dirk Kuyt squared the free ball, and Torres got the fun in progress.

At the point when the last whistle was blown, Liverpool had won 4-0. Were it not so much for various fine saves from Casillas, the Reds, and Torres, would have had undeniably more. Cannavaro, three years on from being named the best player on earth, must be required off soon after the hour mark.

Torres himself was required off 10 minutes after the fact, supplanted by improbable goalscorer Andrea Dossena having influenced his old opponents.

"The unit man, specialists, and physios were generally excellent," Benitez said in his post-match question and answer session, normally hesitant to single out his countryman for acclaim.

However, in that early snapshot of enchantment from Torres, even Rafa could never have helped yet fall enthralled with him.