ANDY HUNTERfinds the marksman happy with life in general and with Liverpool in particular – but wanting trophies

SHORTLY BEFORE kick-off at Stamford Bridge tomorrow Fernando Torres will crouch down and stare impassively at the ranks of blue ahead. He performs the “crouching Torres” act in front of thousands every week but ask the Spaniard why and a man comfortable to open up on fatherhood, family and life in the public eye recoils.

“I don’t know why I started to do it,” he says. “But I like to see the other end and the people in the stand behind the goal. I always do it before the games. I like to see the other players with the ’keeper. I try to see the goal and try to think where the ball is going.”

Torres’ strike-rate does take the breath away. In 93 appearances for Liverpool since his club record transfer from Atletico Madrid the ball has gone where Torres envisaged it would 58 times. A hat-trick against Hull City last Saturday took his league total to 46 in 64 games, keeping him on course to reach his half-century quicker than any player in Liverpool’s top-flight history.

Roger Hunt heads the list with 50 in 78 league matches and other illustrious predecessors – Ian Rush, Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen – required 84, 88 and 98 games respectively.

Not for the first time Rafael Benitez was asked whether Torres was the finest striker in the world after his merciless torment of Hull. The Liverpool manager offered his stock-in-trade reply. “He is one of the best but he can still improve if he wants to.”

Benitez ’s challenge is typical of his paternal approach to the 25-year-old. Last month the Liverpool manager demanded his compatriot cease complaining to referees about opposition defenders, regardless of the four black eyes Torres had received.

Unusually the rebuke was issued in public. Equally strange for a superstar, the striker admitted his elder was right.

Torres is the leading goalscorer in the Premier League’s most prolific team and was last night anointed September’s player of the month. Torres accepts the challenges at Liverpool because he identifies with them.

“I am really relaxed here,” says the Spain international. “I couldn’t do anything in Madrid when I was there. Madrid is a big city and I wasn’t playing for the strongest team, so 80 per cent of the people there are Real fans and it was hard for me just to go for a walk or go to a restaurant or the cinema because people do not have the same respect there that they do here for players.

“Normally I stayed at home but sometimes, if I went out with friends, it was really difficult. Here in Liverpool I can do almost everything I want to do. I can walk in the park or to Albert Dock. The people recognise you but they have a lot of respect for a player, so the quality of life is the main thing for me.

“One of the reasons I chose to come to Liverpool was because of the mentality of the club. It’s a working club and a working city. I don’t know why but I feel like one of the people here. They recognise me and wish me luck but in Spain they surround you and you can’t do anything. I think they’re happy with me here.”

A sense of belonging is essential to a player who resisted lucrative moves abroad for several years to commit to his boyhood team, Atletico, and cannot imagine playing for another Spanish club. He shares the sentiment with his wife, Olalla, who insisted she give birth to their first child in her home region of Galicia. Even 12-week-old Nora, though born in Santiago de Compostela, reflects her father’s connection to Liverpool.

“My baby will be growing up in Liverpool, so we have another Scouser,” he says. “It is a really nice time in my life. I am enjoying it. I can even sleep no problem because she is really nice. It was difficult the first month. You are aware of everything, worried about everything, but it is not a problem. It is really nice to live this experience and at the same time focus on football.”

If Nora reflects Torres’s personal serenity, his professional comfort owes much to a character from Barcelona defender Carles Puyol. Adoration, respect, family, talent and wealth: Torres seems to have it all but the man who ended Spain’s 44-year wait for international success at Euro 2008 has still to win a major honour at club level. That intense frustration is sated by the example of Puyol, who last season captained Pep Guardiola’s mesmerising side to the historic treble of Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Rey.

“I spoke to Carles about this,” says Torres, “and he said he was 23 or 24 and hadn’t won a single trophy at Barcelona but now he has plenty of them. Puyol told me to be patient. He said that you are at a massive club and you will win trophies eventually.

“I don’t know if it will be soon but, if you have patience and you keep thinking that you can do it, then it will definitely arrive. We have a big squad, a strong squad and we know when the first trophy comes we can win plenty of trophies.

“It is so important for me to get my first club medal with Liverpool but I am young, I am just 25. I have won top honours with Spain now and, yes, there is a desperation to win a trophy for the fans at Liverpool. Three years without a trophy is too much for Liverpool and especially the Premier League [last won in First Division days in 1990] it is far too long for this club.

“We have to improve and try to win the league, the Champions League or maybe a cup because to go another season and have four years without a trophy would be a massive blow for Liverpool. After winning the European Championship with Spain I know exactly how it feels to win a major trophy and I know if we can win at Liverpool, it will feel the same or even better than it did with Spain.”

Torres was injured when Liverpool halted Chelsea’s 86-game unbeaten home league record almost exactly one year ago. When he assumes the squat position at Stamford Bridge, there will be no Petr Cech, suspended due to his dismissal at Wigan last weekend, in Torres’ line of vision.

The striker is aiming to add to his tally of five goals in six appearances against Chelsea. “We have won our last six games and we will arrive at Stamford Bridge with a lot of confidence,” said Torres. “If we can beat Chelsea away, then we know we can beat any team in England and in Europe. We need to win these games to be stronger.”