Torres nets opening day victory

A stunning 83rd minute strike from Fernando Torres gave Liverpool a 1-0 victory over Sunderland on the opening day of the Premier League season.

The Anfield hit-man scored 25-yard goal seven minutes from time after Liverpool gave in a much better second-half at the Stadium of Light.

Steven Gerrard and Sami Hyypia were recalled in place of Xabi Alonso and Daniel Agger in the starting line up.

Liverpool were looking nervous in the opening minutes and a few errors from Andrea Dossena and Sami Hyypia mounted pressure on the Reds as Diouf looked to get in.

It took Liverpool more than half and hour to get their first shot in when Gerrard dragged wide from close to 20 yards.

The game went on as Sunderland continued to attack but Liverpool were relieved as soon as Alan Wiley signaled for half-time.

Xabi Alonso was brought on for the second half as his presence improved Liverpool’s passing.

Rafa Benitez’s half-time talk really pepped the team up as they looked for a winner.

A Dirk Kuyt effort was pushed in the way of Torres on 72 minutes but Keane got in the way of the shot.

Xabi Alonso nearly did it again, when a 65-yard shot went just wide of the Sunderland goal, which left Craig Gordon very uncertain.

But, Craig Gordon was beaten on 83 minutes when Fernando Torres hit a beauty of a strike from 25-yards, leaving the travelling Kop bouncing till the end.

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