Luis Suarez "sad" over Liverpool situation as Fernando Torres seeks closure

Luis Suarez and Fernando Torres are two of Liverpool's greatest strikers, but both retain some sadness over their time at the club.

Both forwards were goal machines for the Reds, with extremely similar records showing their impact. Torres scored 81 goals in 142 games between 2007 and 2011 before leaving in a hugely controversial £50million January transfer to Chelsea.

He was replaced by Suarez, who arrived from Ajax and proceeded to net 82 goals in 133 matches for the club. The Uruguayan then left for Barcelona in a blockbuster transfer in 2014, with the move coming before he fulfilled a major ambition with Liverpool.

Suarez moved on from Merseyside straight after the disappointment of the 2013/14 campaign when Brendan Rodgers' side stalled late in the season to miss out on the Premier League title to Manchester City. Suarez told the club website: "In the last year when I played there at Anfield I was so sad for the supporters [that we missed out on the title]."

Nevertheless, Barcelona worked out well for Suarez, who continued to plunder goals in Spain. One of those goals did not go down well with Liverpool fans, though, given it came against his former club.

"I know some Liverpool supporters were angry with me because I celebrated a goal against Liverpool here in Camp Nou [in 2019] and for that, I am so sad," Suarez added. "I accept that and I say that hopefully, they understand my situation: we were playing at home and in the Champions League semi-final.

HAVE YOUR SAY! What are the legacies of Luis Suarez and Fernando Torres at Liverpool? Comment below.

"I lived one of the best moments of my life there and I think the supporters didn't forget how my attitude was in the Liverpool shirt."

Suarez never played alongside Torres at Liverpool, with their stints not overlapping, but the club's fans did get a rare chance to see two of their greatest strikers take the pitch together seven years ago. A charity match between sides captained by club legends Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher finished 2-2 in March 2015 at Anfield.

Torres and Suarez took the pitch in the second half for Gerrard's team, and while neither found the back of the net, it still made for a memorable sight. The Spaniard enjoyed the experience immensely, with it coming four years after he left the club.

"It was just very emotional," he told LFCTV at the time after the fans serenaded him. "I didn't know how to react because I was not expecting them to sing the song which I still remember. I remember the great games we had here in the Champions League and trying to win the league and fighting for trophies.

"I have this song in my head and it was so important for me. Those three-and-a-half years changed my entire life and I remember every important moment there was always that song from the Kop. So to hear that once again is something I will never forget."

Torres was set to play once more for Liverpool in another charity game, this time against a Barcelona XI, in March 2020. "Hopefully it happens!" Torres told liverpoolfc.com in October 2019. "I received many invitations from Liverpool to play with them in the past but I couldn't do it because I was still playing. So, I'll be so happy to come back and play in a Liverpool shirt again."

But unfortunately, the Coronavirus pandemic saw the fixture postponed and, by the time it came back around in March 2022, Torres was not available to feature. The 2015 match was extremely important for Torres, who felt he needed to fix his relationship with the Liverpool fans after his controversial Chelsea exit damaged his reputation.

"It was a really important day for me," he said in 2019. "I felt like at the end [of that game] we were in a good way. One of the regrets I have is the way I left the club. With time, I think I could explain the reasons."

Torres managed to repair things in 2015, but his second opportunity to pull on the Liverpool shirt never came. It means he is still waiting for that ultimate closure.

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