Fernando Torres hit two, Aquilani finally found a performance with first goal

LIVERPOOL 4
- Torres 26,
- Babel 28,
- Aquilani 32,
- Torres 77

PORTSMOUTH 1
- Belhadj 88

**Fernando Torres hit two as Liverpool thumped bottom-club Portsmouth 4-1 to keep in the hunt for that final Champions League place.
Raf Benitez named an attacking line-up and the Reds seemed to keen to put their previous two defeats to Lille and Wigan firmly behind them.
First goal the Reds 26 minutes on the clock Fernando Torres after a mistake from stand-in goalkeeper Ashdown.

The Pompey shot-stopper’s attempted clearance was charged down by Gerrard, the ball spinning free in the area for Rodriguez who laid it across the box for Torres to sweep home the opener.

Matters quickly got worse for the visitors as two minutes later the Reds’ doubled their lead. Portsmouth failed to clear a cross from the right, which fell to Torres who attempted to shoot before rolling the ball back to Babel who poked it low and into the far corner, 2-0 position for host.

The Italian has been something of a menace so far, popping up all over the pitch, and this time he's the man in the box to sweep home the third goal in six minutes! Torres was again the provider, backheeling the ball into the area from near the byline on the left, with Gerrard's dummy allowing Aquilani to finish adroitly into the bottom corner. That's his first goal in English football.

After half-time at the 77th minute Torres grab his second of the game. Aquilani was the provider feeding the Spaniard inside the box and he cut inside Rocha before smashing his shot past the despairing dive of Ashdown, 4-0 visitor left behind.

With minutes to go the visitors grabbed a goal back to for chance position 4-1, Danny Webber’s cross finding Piquionne whose low ball across the box was finished neatly by Belhadj but it was little more than a consolation after a poor display by Avram Grant’s men.

Teams:

Liverpool: Jose Reina, Daniel Agger, Jamie Carragher, Emiliano Insua, Glen Johnson (Martin Kelly 71), Javier Mascherano, Alberto Aquilani, Ryan Babel, Maxi Rodriguez, Fernando Torres (David N'Gog 80), Steven Gerrard (Yossi Benayoun 74 ).

Portsmouth: Jamie Ashdown, Marc Wilson, Ricardo Rocha, Hermann Hreidarsson (Quincy Owusu-Abeyie 76), Steve Finnan, Michael Brown, Papa Bouba Diop (Aaron Mokoena 64), Jamie O'Hara (Danny Webber 85), Nadir Belhadj, Aruna Dindane, Frederic Piquionne.