I owe my striking success to master of detail Benitez, says Liverpool hotshot Torres

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The Spain star faces Chelsea in Wednesday night's Champions League semi-final at Stamford Bridge as one of the revelations of the season, with 30 goals in 43 games since his £21million move from Atletico Madrid.

No less a judge than Kenny Dalglish has told him he was the best signing of the summer who can create his own goals, a tribute that Torres confesses left him 'blushing as red as a tomato'.

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But the Kop's new idol is the first to acknowledge that Anfield manager Benitez has worked hard behind the scenes to reap maximum dividends from his considerable summer investment.

Torres, 24, has not only learned to cope with the tough-guy treatment handed out by defenders, he has also sharpened up the finishing power that tempted Benitez to buy.

Torres revealed: "Rafa Benitez is obsessed with details. He calculates everything, including runs and flights of the ball, and studies it on his computer.

"If he tells you to stand five feet from the penalty spot, it's not in your best interests to be six feet from it.

"He'll show you that the extra distance makes the difference between a goal and a missed chance — and it has worked for me.

"The proof for me is that I had never scored a club hat-trick in my life before joining Liverpool. But I've since got three, against Reading, Middlesbrough and West Ham.

"Rafa explained everything to me before I even signed — how we would play, and what our aims were. He even had a work programme planned for me before I got here.

"He never stopped telling me that I had the speed to succeed here and that he had faith in me."

Torres admitted that coming to Liverpool from Spain was something of a footballing culture shock.

"The first home game I played was against Chelsea. I went back inside after the pre-match warm-up, and the crowd was singing so loudly the walls seemed to shake," he said.

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"I remember thinking, 'there is no way we can lose here', and that day I scored against Chelsea. Nobody is sure of his first-team place at Liverpool. Rafa is merciless, and anyone who wants to play in matches has to earn the right in training. It is different to Spain, where only an earthquake can change the pecking order at a club.

"You soon learn the Liverpool way of doing things. If you train like an amateur you end up dropped to the bench for the next game. Training is tough and committed, and at the same rhythm as proper matches.

"The spirit is the same at the weekend. English football is physical and reasonably honest — in contrast to La Liga. The Spanish game is more vicious, and you get studs-first challenges and elbowing off the ball.

"All defenders in England are tough, the good ones and the less gifted. It must be written in their contracts! But now I've taken that on board, I've got to go out and earn my money.

"I'm not scared of a scrap so long as it is fair. I have wanted to play against guys like John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho for a long time. They do me an honour by giving me a tough time.

"Now I'm going to try to respond to them by getting a couple of goals against Chelsea."

Torres is still pinching himself with Moscow and a Champions League Final on May 21 on the horizon. He said: "Everybody dreams about playing in the Champions League, and in the space of a few months I have gone from watching it on telly to having a part in it.

"I have already got plenty of memories — my goal at the San Siro when we beat Inter Milan 1-0, the 4-0 win over Marseille, my goal in the 4-2 win over Arsenal. I'll remember that one all my life.

"And now it is the turn of Chelsea. I don't ask myself questions — I just keep telling myself time and again that I have done the right thing to join Liverpool."