With the international break soon to be upon us, Liverpool fans can at least look forward to their Legends team being back in action next week.
The Reds Legends will take on their Ajax counterparts on Saturday afternoon with all proceeds going towards the LFC Foundation.
The Liverpool squad has already been announced, with the highlight being an Anfield return for Fernando Torres.
Torres was superb for the Reds for three-and-a-half years before controversially leaving for Chelsea in January 2011. Although a portion of the fanbase still hold the move against him, most will surely be pleased to see Torres back in a red shirt.
And in anticipation of next week’s game, the Spaniard has been spotted donning a current Liverpool home strip while in training.
As seen on a post on X by Anything Liverpool, Torres was hard at work getting in shape before the game. Doing some work with boxing pads, the 39-year-old is seen in the gym with an ‘Alexander-Arnold 66’ shirt on his back. Fantastic.
Torres gears up for Anfield return
Torres has actually been back at Anfield once before since leaving. The World Cup winner turned out in a Liverpool All-Stars charity game back in 2015.
He was also supposed to make his LFC Legends debut in 2020, although the Coronavirus pandemic put paid to that.
However, during the All-Stars game, Torres and his teammates – which included Luis Suarez – were wearing a custom made, black kit. Next Saturday, he’ll be donning the current Liverpool home strip. That will be special.
Again, for some fans, they’d rather not see Torres back at Anfield at all. The way he left 13 years ago did leave a very sour taste and to many burned bridges that cannot be repaired.
But for us, we’ve moved past that. The club was not in a healthy place at the time and to hear Torres talk about the move, it’s clear that promises were made to him and ultimately not kept.
He didn’t have to move to Chelsea, who were a much bigger rival at the time, but that’s what ended up happening. It really stung.
For his part, Fernando has spoken in the past of his regret at deciding to leave a place and a club where he was truly loved. Things were never quite the same in his career after that.
That he’s jumped at the chance to come back – and is wearing Liverpool shirts in his spare time – shows that he’s keen to make amends. The Reds still hold a special place in his heart. It’s surely time to let bygones be bygones and re-embrace a player who made us all dream.