Liverpool saluted a World Cup winner for the second time on Sunday evening.
Fernando Torres followed in the footsteps of England's 1966 hero Sir Roger Hunt when he helped Spain claim the most coveted prize in world football for the first time.
Anfield team-mate Pepe Reina was also in the Spanish squad, but watched from the dug-out as Torres ended the match a World Cup winner.

Torres completed 50 goals in 72 matches, beating Albert Stubbins and Sam Raybould by eight games on the 29th of December.This was the goal..
Here's a list of the number of games it took other Liverpool legends to score their own collections of a half century of goals.
72 Fernando Torres
80 Sam Raybould
80 Albert Stubbins
81 Roger Hunt
82 Jack Parkinson
3 John Aldridge
84 Ian Rush
88 Robbie Fowler
90 Gordon Hodgson
98 Harry Chambers
98 Kenny Dalglish
98 Michael Owen
104 Joe Hewitt
105 Ian St John
111 John Barnes
114 Robert Robinson
116 John Toshack
121 David Johnson
125 Dick Forshaw
125 Tom Miller
129 Jimmy Melia
139 Jack Balmer
160 Berry Niewenhuys
162 Alf Hanson
167 Billy Liddell
175 Kevin Keegan
208 Jack Cox
221 Terry McDermott
269 Ray Kennedy
271 Arthur Goddard
280 Alan A'Court
281 Steven Gerrard
302 Steve Heighway
What makes Torres feat even more incredible is that there isn't a single penalty in those 50 goals.

After all the hype about the impact Sunday's game would have on fourth place it was no great surprise when it didn't live up to expectations.
It was a poor, poor game and neither team deserved to win.
In fact, it looked as if they'd made some kind of pact not to encroach in each other's half.

Disclaimer: This isn't a Top Ten, just a selection of past and, in one case, current Liverpool players who I think are worthy of a mention for their World Cup finals record. Who have I missed?
Kevin Keegan: 1982 for England
Injuries and a poor qualifying record restricted him to just 26 minutes of World Cup finals football
Alan Hansen: 1982 for Scotland
Failed to dislodge an Aberdeen central defence partnership and made a right mess of one tackle against the USSR
Jan Molby: 1986 for Denmark
Part of the so-called Danish Dynamite Team which included Michael Laudrup
Graeme Souness: 1978, 1982 and 1986 for Scotland
A formidable opponent who usually raised Scotland's game by force of personality alone
John Barnes: 1986 and 1990 for England
Set up Gary Lineker against Argentina in 1986 and repeated the trick minutes later only to see the second chance cleared
Steven Gerrard: 2006 and 2010 for England
While he missed out in 2002 through injury, and failed to score from the spot in 2006, Gerrard may still end his World Cup career as England captain
Dietmar Hamann: 1998 and 2002 for Germany
This clever and much-respected German became only the second Liverpool player to take part in a World Cup Final
Kenny Dalglish: 1974, 1978 and 1982 for Scotland
Probably his country's greatest ever player, Dalglish's Liverpool – Scotland link was forever cemented by the headed goal at Anfield against Wales which secured a place at the 1978 World Cup (before anyone moans, I know this wasn't a World Cup finals match, but I had to put it in anyway)
Michael Owen: 1998, 2002 and 2006 for England
Fondly remembered for his breathtaking arrival on the World Cup scene in 1998, Owen went on to provide some hope against Brazil in 2002, succumbed to injury in 2006, and now looks extremely unlikely to play in 2010
Roger Hunt: 1962 and 1966 for England
Known to Liverpool fans as "Sir Roger", striker Hunt already had a formidable goal scoring record before the 1966 tournament.

Former Liverpool FC player Alan Hansen is convinced the Reds will clinch a place in the Europa League semi-finals as Fernando Torres is back on song.
Torres heads into the first leg match against Benfica in Portugal on Thursday night on the back of scoring a brace in the victory over Sunderland on Sunday.

The Taca das Nacoes ("Nations' Cup" in Portuguese) was held in 1964 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Brazilian Football Confederation. To my surprise, the hosts and World Cup holders didn't have everything their own way.
Argentina, Portugal and England joined Brazil for a series of matches held in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in late May and early June.

Incredibly, I had a chance to meet the legendary Geoff Hurst this week, and pose him some questions. We love interviews here at the England World Cup Blog even the fake ones but this one was quite real. I was initally a bit nervous how many times do you get to meet a man whose played in a World Cup Final, let alone won one?

England World Cup winner Roger Hunt has hit out at Rafael Benitez's selection tinkering, claiming the Liverpool manager has gambled with the club's future participation in the Champions League.
A desperately disappointing Premier League campaign saw the Reds finish seventh, failing to build on 2008-09's second-place finish, unable to replace Xabi Alonso at the hub of midfield and suffering with injuries to their leading lights that exposed a chronic lack of depth in the squad.

Liverpool FC legend Roger Hunt hopes Steven Gerrard can lift World Cup 2010 ... Liverpool Echo Rio Ferdinand's withdrawal from the England squad has seen the captain's armband handed to Steven Gerrard . As well as Gerrard, Argentina skipper Javier ... Liverpool street decorated with England World Cup flags Liverpool Echo Let's all bask in World Cup fever!

The consensus at the moment seems to be that Aston Villa's Emile Heskey will partner Wayne Rooney in attack against the US.
Intriguingly, Heskey will have the number 21 on his back. Another famous forward once wore the very same number for England during our one and, so far, only successful tournament.

By Ed Barrett

◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 12

The two teams line up before the match: (l-r) West Germany's Horst-Dieter Hottges, Wolfgang Overath, Siggi Held, Helmut Haller, Wolfgang Weber, Lothar Emmerich, Willi Schulz, Franz Beckenbauer, Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, Hans Tilkowski and Uwe Seeler, linesman Tofik Bakhramov, referee Gottfried Dienst, linesman Karol Galba, England's Bobby Moore, George Cohen, Alan Ball, Gordon Banks, Roger Hunt, Ray Wilson, Nobby Stiles, Bobby Charlton, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters, Jack Charlton

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Public opinion is fickle at the best of times, and never more so that where the national football team is concerned.

Numbers have always been important to John Aldridge. Every one of the 476 career goals that made the former Liverpool striker the most prolific marksman of English football's post-war era are cherished possessions.
They are dusted off, polished and cross-categorized into a variety of lists and tables that punctuate the pages of Aldridge's new book ‘Alright Aldo Sound As A Pound'.

How many English footballers are the proud owners of both a World Cup AND a European Cup Winners medals? There are only two of course, both former Manchester United players, but one of them is on the...
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Ask any Manchester United or Liverpool fan what the first game they look for when a new season's fixture list is released and you can bet with absolute certainty that it will be the home and away...
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December 2 sees the launch of the latest issue (number 5), which includes an exclusive and extensive interview with Liverpool legend, Sir Roger Hunt, who remains the most profilic marksman in the league in Anfield history.

As always the independent LFC magazine "for the fans & by the fans", put together by the rather talented Gareth Roberts, boasts a number of articles contributed by some of the best football writers around, this time including Oliver Kay of The Times and well known Reds author Paul Tomkins, whose latest offering "Pay As You Play" has recently stormed in to the book charts.