‘El Nino’ whips up a storm

LOCAL pride is secure for another season, but Liverpool remain on the margins of the bigger picture. Victories such as this will only ever be consolation triumphs while the league title remains such a distant dream, but at least Rafael Benitez’s side are now firmly in pole position in the race to secure another stab at the Champions League next season.

Once again it was ‘El Nino’ himself, Fernando Torres, who proved the difference with his seventh-minute goal settling this neighbourhood spat over the dubious distinction of finishing fourth. Still, victory at least gives Rafael Benitez and his players an injection of confidence ahead of the trilogy-opening encounter with Arsenal at the Emirates on Wednesday.

If last Sunday’s abject surrender against Manchester United at Old Trafford summed up just how far Liverpool have fallen behind the big three in the Premier League, then the billing of this Merseyside derby, the 207th meeting between the two clubs, as a final eliminator for fourth place merely underlined the second-tier status of the city in England’s top division.