I’ll be fit for crunch games says, Torres

LIVERPOOL striker Fernando Torres is confident he will be fit for the club’s crucial clashes in Europe and at home in the next 10 days.

The Reds take on Real Madrid in the second leg of their Champions League last 16 tie looking to progress with a 1-0 advantage from the first leg at the Bernabeu, and then face Manchester United in the Premier League in a match they have to win to have any hope of catching their bitter north-west rivals.

Torres has not played since he suffered an ankle injury in that Madrid victory, but revealed last night he is optimistic about returning next week.

“I hope to be available for both of the matches because they will be two great games,” he said.

“The ankle injury has been giving me some trouble and the recovery process is taking longer than I hoped.

“However, I am quite optimistic that I will be ready for the match versus Real Madrid, and if the ankle holds out, I will also be at Old Trafford.”

Torres does not accept the claim that his injury problems this season have cost Liverpool their chance of winning the Premier League title, adding: “I don’t think that my injury should be considered as a reason for Liverpool not winning the league. Although following a couple of poor results we have lost touch with Manchester United at the top, the team has done well this season.”

Meanwhile Liverpool’s owners have suffered a blow in their efforts to sell the club to a Kuwaiti investment consortium.

A spokesman for the consortium says the £500million value put on the club by American businessmen Tom Hicks and George Gillett is too high and that negotiations are “going really badly”. Abdulla Al-Sager, one of the possible investors in the consortium headed by Kuwait’s Al-Kharafi family, said: “Things are going really badly, because they are asking for too much.

“I don’t think anything will happen unless we get a better price.”

The consortium are now likely to play a waiting game until July when Hicks and Gillett have to see if they can refinance Liverpool’s £300m debt.

If they cannot, then they may be forced to sell for a much lower price.