Rafael Benitez is convinced Liverpool can still finish fourth in the Premier League and qualify for the Champions League after Fernando Torres’s double inspired a 3-0 win over Sunderland.
The Reds were simply unstoppable at Anfield on Sunday and produced one of their best performances of the season as they cruised past Steve Bruce’s side.
The victory moved Liverpool above Manchester City into fifth place in the Premier League, four points behind fourth placed Spurs.
PHOTO: EPA
Harry Redknapp’s side have a game in hand on Liverpool, but they have to play Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United in their next three fixtures and Benitez believes his side are in the mood to mount a strong finish to the season.
“I’m confident if we keep working hard and playing as well as we did here we will be there,” Benitez said. “The players have confidence, we played very well from the beginning and could have scored three or four goals in the first half.”
“As a team we were stronger, and it was an ideal situation for us, now we need to keep pushing,” Benitez said. “It’s good to see the fans happy and the players putting in this performance.”
Torres set the standard for Liverpool’s display as early as the third minute as he looked up on the edge of the box and curled home a stunning effort that left Sunderland goalkeeper Craig Gordon no chance.
The goal sparked Benitez’s men into a dominant performance and it could easily have become an embarrassment for Sunderland if Liverpool had taken their first-half chances.
Torres missed one effort and also hit the post while Steven Gerrard and Daniel Agger also squandered decent opportunities from close range.
However, the game was essentially sealed after 32 minutes when a Glen Johnson shot took a huge deflection off Michael Turner to make it 2-0.
After the break, Liverpool continued to pour forward and Torres scored his seventh goal in just four games when he clipped past Gordon on the hour.
If Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel had not also missed good chances, Liverpool would have won by at least five goals, but by then it did not matter.
“We could have scored three of four in the first half,” Benitez. “We had less tempo after the break but we still played well and had chances. We know that we have to keep going and that it will be difficult but we have to try.”
“The players have confidence and if we can play at this level I’m sure we will win more games,” Benitez said.
Bruce said Sunderland had been comprehensively outplayed and he praised Torres for his stylish display.
“Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say you were beaten by a far better team,” he said. “They got off to a wonderful start and when Torres and Gerrard are in that sort of mood it became very difficult for us.”
“Sometimes you take a beating and say ‘we were beaten by a good team,” Benitez said. “We all know Torres is a class act when he plays like that. He looks as fresh as a daisy and he is a fantastic centre-forward, it was his day and he takes some stopping.”
At Turf Moor, Burnley saw their hopes of a second successive season in the top flight — after a 33-year absence — slip further away.
Losing to local rival Blackburn keeps Burnley three points from safety with six matches to play.
Blackburn’s winner came from David Dunn’s 20th-minute penalty after Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen was adjudged to have tripped Martin Olsson.
Replays suggested Olsson was already going to ground before any contact was made.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite