Fernando Torres will need more than a solitary strike in a glorified training match to justify his £26m price tag but now, at last, the Spaniard is officially a Liverpool goalscorer.
Torres collected Yossi Benayoun's canny through-ball in the 13th minute and clipped into the bottom corner before wheeling away in extravagant celebration. The reaction was out of keeping with a humdrum occasion but Torres has served notice of his intent.
Sterner tests await - first on Sunday, when Liverpool tackle Feyenoord here, but more pertinently a week today when they travel to Aston Villa in the Premiership - but Torres will have slept a little easier last night. Three appearances as a substitute had slipped past without a goal before yesterday, hardly a startling sequence but decidedly irksome for a club-record signing.