Benitez warns Torres that goals may get harder

By Simon Stone
Published: 15 September 2007

Rafael Benitez has warned Liverpool's club record signing Fernando Torres that life in the Premier League will not always be as easy as this.

Torres has made a flying start to life in England, netting three times in four league games for the Reds so far, including a double in the six-goal hammering of Derby which swept Liverpool to the top of the table prior to the international break.

After spending a reported £26.5m to land the 23-year-old, Benitez must be quietly satisfied with the outcome, especially as a number of his other expensive imports over the past couple of seasons have taken time to settle. But the Liverpool manager is cautioning against an early analysis of Torres' talents.

For, while he claims never to have been concerned at the ability of a player described "El Nino" to settle into English life, he feels it will be another couple of months before a judgement can be passed.

"Yes, Fernando should be pleased but we also have to tell him to keep working hard," Benitez said.

"It is not always going to be as easy as he thinks it is at the moment and we need to wait and see what happens in a month or two.

"He will find out there are some very difficult central defenders to play against but the fact he has scored already is important because goals give all strikers confidence."

Elsewhere, the Uefa president Michel Platini insists his plans to revamp the Champions League are in the moral interests of a sport increasingly governed by profit.

In an interview published yesterday by the French sports daily L'Equipe, Platini defended his plans to revamp the competition despite fierce opposition from managers such as Arsenal's Arsène Wenger and Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson.

The former France and Juventus midfielder wants Uefa's executive committee to reserve four places in the group phase of the competition for domestic cup winners in 2009-12.

"We have to moralise football," Platini said. "Our generation has contributed in bringing money, and today, people are arriving to make some cash."