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Liverpool 4-1 Portsmouth
Match Reports, 23:02, March 15, 2010 ,
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.
That attacking approach paid off as they effectively won the game in the space of six first half minutes. First with 26 minutes gone Jamie Ashdown's attempted clearance was blocked by Steven Gerrard, the ball fell to Maxi Rodriquez who laid it off for Fernando Torres to comfortably stroke home from eight yards.
Pompey had barely recovered their composure when they found themselves two down two minutes later. Torres was the creator this time, laying the ball off in the area for Ryan Babel to toe-poke the ball into the bottom corner.
Liverpool were rampant and made it three just after the half hour mark. Torres was again at the heart of things, wriggling past two Pompey defenders on the left hand side of the box before passing to Alberto Aquilani, who slid home his first goal for Liverpool from 12 yards.
Steven Gerrard was lucky to avoid a red card midway through the second half when he appeared to strike Michael Brown with his forearm. Referee Stuart Atwell choose instead to warn the Liverpool captain, who was substituted a few minutes later.
It made no difference to the match though as the Reds confirmed their dominance with a fourth on 77 minutes. The impressive Aquilani found Torres with a pinpoint pass on the left of the area, the Spaniard then cut inside Riccardo Rocha before firing in a shot at Ashdown's near post.
Pompey grabbed a consolation late on when Nadir Bejhadj tapped home Frederic Piquionne's cross shot, but Pompey's 20th defeat of a traumatic season had been confirmed long before then.