Torres wants to finish his career at Anfield

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres has declared that he will never play for another English team and hoes to finish his career at Anfield. Speaking to 'Sport magazine', Liverpool's number nine, nicknamed El Niño said:

"I can understand the feelings between Man Utd and Liverpool," reports Sky Sports.

"I'm a foreign player, but I know how the Liverpool fans feel and I remember the welcome I had when I arrived - it was amazing.

"I hope to play a lot of years or maybe even finish my career here.

"I don't know, but Liverpool is my English team and I don't think about playing for another one."

Agger says It's good to be back

Daniel Agger could figure in Sundays game against Chelsea following after coming through sixty minutes with the reserves on Tuesday night. Goals from David Ngog and Steven Irwin gave the young Reds a 2-0 win over Manchester City and Agger is glad to be back.

"It is good to be back and it felt good to be back on the pitch again," Agger told the official site.

"It is always frustrating when you are out injured and can't play football, so to get back out there again was great.

"I knew in pre-season that my back wasn't right so I had to get the problem sorted. I set myself the target to be back around this time and so I'm happy.

"I will keep working hard and do everything I can to help the team and get back in the side as soon as possible."

"I enjoyed it and I think everybody did well and we had a good mentality out there," added Agger.

Transfer Speculation: Griezmann

Antoine Griezmann

Liverpool and Manchester are "battling it out" to sign "wonderkid" Antoine Griezmann, reports the Guardian. The 18 year old French left winger has shown impressive form for Real Sociedad this season, scoring once for the Segunda División side against SD Huesca.

Benitez expects Mascherano to be fit against Chelsea

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez expects Javier Mascherano to be back from injury to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. The Argentinean midfielder has suffered from a slight hamstring problem and was not fit for the Champions League match against Fiorentina on Tuesday.

"I expect Javier to be fit for the Chelsea game, he will be ready," said Benitez in the Telegraph.

"He was very close to being fit to play in Florence, but he had a slight hamstring problem and could not train in our final session before we left for Italy on Monday, so he could not be risked."

Danish defender Daniel Agger could also be available after playing an hour of the reserves' 2-0 win against Manchester City on Tuesday, his first game of the season after a knee operation.

Gerrard says Reds need to react against Fiorentina defeat

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard says the Reds need to bounce back quickly in order to get over their Fiorentina defeat in the Champions League on Tuesday and there's no better place to start then against Chelsea this Sunday.

"We need to get the defeat in Florence out of our system quickly, because we have a massive game now at Chelsea on Sunday," said Gerrard in the Independent.

"We were disappointed to lose in Florence, we were second best all over the pitch and deserved to go in at the break losing."

"The reaction was better in the second half and we created some chances, but we just could not get into the game. We did not do what we usually do away from home in Europe.

"We normally play at a high tempo and pass the ball really well, and play well on the counter-attack. But all over the pitch we just did not turn up. But this group is still wide open, there's plenty of football to be played and we are now in the same position as Fiorentina with a win and a defeat, and they still have to face us at Anfield.

"If we win our next home game [against Lyons], things will be different. If we win our home games now that should be enough, we'll be fine.

"What we need is to produce a reaction from this defeat at Stamford Bridge, that has to be the aim now.

"But we need to get this defeat out of our system quickly, because we have a massive game now at Chelsea.

Aurelio says Benitez raged at half time in Fiorentina

Fabio Aurelio has admitted that manager Rafael Benitez's mood in the dressing room at half time during the Fiorentina game was the most annoyed the player has ever seen the coach. Aurelio is well placed to assess Benitez's temper having served under him a Valencia before joining him at the Reds.

“That was the most annoyed we have seen the manager but we all were,” said Aurelio in the Telegraph.

“We all felt like that after the first half and that’s why you saw a better performance in the second.

“But we didn’t need harsh words at half-time – we all knew that we were not playing well and that we had to be much better.

“In the second we were a different side and if it had been like that from the start it could have been a different result.”

“In football you always have a chance to put it right and turn things to your favour and ours comes at Chelsea on Sunday.”

“It’s a good opportunity for us to get over the disappointment of losing to Fiorentina.

“It is a very important game in the Premier League, against a very strong side, and we have to recover from this result straight away and have the confidence we can do a good job again.

“We have to fight really hard to take the points.

“It’s important to get something against the top sides. We are scoring more goals at the moment but you must keep improving if you want to win trophies.”

Gillett rejects takeover rumours

Liverpool co-owner George Gillett has again denied rumors that Saudi prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah al-Saud's 'F6' investment company was planning to make a major investment in the club. Gillett's comments follow an official statement from both owners claiming "there is no agreement with any party and reports to the contrary are wholly inaccurate." Speaking to 'thesportbriefing.com', Gillett said:

"We had a marvellous meeting with them on Saturday and they were impressed with the club, but the academies in Saudi Arabia and North Africa and their possible involvement in NASCAR-type racing in the Middle East were the only items on the agenda," said Gillett on Sky Sports.

He added: "We have entered into a period of exclusive discussions regarding the possibility of introducing NASCAR-type racing to the Middle East, but the memorandum of understanding does not cover anything else."

F6 director Barry Didato confirmed they are exploring commercial opportunities with Liverpool, however their discussions "does not involve the possibility of an immediate investment in Liverpool", and any possible transaction would be "several months away".

"As far as investment in Liverpool is concerned, that would be a long way off. A lot of people have jumped the gun and any possible investment would be several months away," said Didato on Sky Sports.

"The agreement signed (at the weekend) leaves the door open for it (possible future investment in Liverpool), but that was certainly not the focus of it."

Didato added that no talks have been staged between F6 and other Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks.

"George has a partner there and has his own issues to work through," Didato added. "Mr Hicks will also have his own issues and we are not sure what he wants to do.

"Another issue is the club's debt (of around £245million). Prince Faisal will not put forward investment capital to just clean up a balance sheet. He would only want to use money to take the club forward. It would be long-term money."

"His Highness is open to anything and is open to being a minority shareholder, but he has tremendous favourability towards the brand and institution of Liverpool," noted Didato.

"His Highness would need to be invited by George and it would have to be at the right time for George. There would need to be a shared vision between all of the parties."

Hicks & Gillett deny sale of club is imminent

Liverpool Football Clubs joint owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks have responded to recent reports about the Club's ownership. Press speculation over the weekend reported Saudi prince, Faisal bin Fahad bin Abdullah al-Saud was on the verge of buying into the Anfield club after his Saudi Arabian sports investment company: 'F6', confirmed it had reached an agreement with Liverpool to establish a number of football academies in the region.

The prince, who attended Liverpool's demolition of Hull City at the weekend reiterated yesterday that he was close to purchasing a 50 per cent stake in the club. Speaking to Middle Eastern newspaper 'Al Riyadh', he said:

"The deal will be concluded soon and its value will be between £200m and £350m," said the prince.

He added: "If we finalise the deal, it will be something marvellous because Liverpool is one of the best and most famous clubs in England and the whole world," reports Sky News.

The Telegraph reports the prince and Gillett will hold further talks when the American visits the Middle East in October.

However a spokesperson for George Gillett and Tom Hicks, via the clubs official site, said:

"The owners have jointly retained Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Rothschild to evaluate the possibility of new investors injecting equity into LFC.

"However, the process is at an early stage, there is no agreement with any party and reports to the contrary are wholly inaccurate."

Rafa describes Fiorentina defeat as Liverpool's worst performance in 5 years

Rafael Benítez has described the 2-0 defeat against Fiorentina as Liverpool's worst performance in his time at the club, as Liverpool were rocked by two first half strikes from teenager Stevan Jovetic. The Reds were slow to start and the fast passing Tuscany side were clearly Happy to take advantage of the Anfield clubs sluggish opening 45 minutes, impressing several punishing moves, converting twice.

"Our mentality in that opening period was just not right, we were bad all over the pitch and I cannot really recall a performance like that," said Benítez in the Telegraph.

“The first half was the worst performance I have seen in my time here. We were doing everything wrong. Fiorentina pressed us well and made us make mistakes. When you make mistakes at this level, you get punished. I was not happy with the challenging all over the pitch in the first half. The mentality was not good enough. We were too nervous. They did well, but we did everything badly.”

"We now have Chelsea away at the weekend in an important Premier League game. I believe you will see a different Liverpool in that match, a totally different performance with a different mentality.

"Then we have Lyon home and away in this group, they are the leaders and it means we have to now win them both.

"We certainly will not be as bad again. If you make too many mistakes against such sides, you will be punished. It is very simple.

"Mentally we will have better days than this. We did improve, but we needed to score early in the second-half. We had the chances but we failed to take them."

Fiorentina coach and former Juventus player Cesare Prandelli said: "We were fantastic, that is the best performance I have seen by a Fiorentina side in the four years I have been in charge.

"Liverpool did not play well, but that was because of the performance of my team. We were outstanding."

LFC Alert is back from holiday!

I’ve been taking a well earned break touring Rafa’s, Pepe’s, Albert’s and Fernando’s home country!

If other Reds find themselves on a pilgrimage Español, and hit upon the coastal town of Salou in the Costa Dorada, this site thoroughly recommends ‘Shankley’s Bar’ for your match day experience!