Liverpool: When Fernando Torres' quick-thinking led to truly baffling PL goal

Fernando Torres scored many a spectacular goal during his lucrative spell at Liverpool.

Whether it was his stunning volley against Blackburn Rovers or solo strikes in Chelsea games, ‘El Nino’ came up with the goods on countless occasions in the famous red jersey between 2007 and 2011.

However, it’s one of Torres’ assists on Merseyside that we’re looking at today because it was the Spaniard’s ingenuity in 2010 that created one of the Premier League‘s cheekiest goals of all time.

Cast your minds back, if you dare, to the heady days of the 2010/11 season where the Reds were flirting with spells in the relegation zone under Roy Hodgson’s management and on the back of a disastrous summer of spending.

It’s September 25 and Liverpool, staggeringly, find themselves beached in 16th place having won just one of their opening five Premier League games as Steve Bruce’s Sunderland make the trip to Anfield.

In the end, Liverpool’s woes would continue as they were forced to settle for a 2-2 draw with Darren Bent scoring a brace, but there was still a timeless moment to be had in amongst the Reds’ struggles.

That’s because Hodgson’s men took the lead after just five minutes in truly bizarre circumstances, but thanks in no small part to the footballing IQ and quick thinking of the aforementioned Torres.

When Sunderland were given a free-kick in their own half during the opening exchanges, defender Michael Turner sought to allow Simon Mignolet to take the set-piece by nonchalantly back-heeling the ball and walking away.

However, with the ball having been static at the time of the play, Torres proceeded to run clear through on goal in the hope that the referee would deem that the free-kick had been taken.

And after a few confusing seconds