Torres still not guaranteed Reds start

Torres, omitted from the starting line-up for the Reds' last two Barclays Premier League games against Portsmouth and Birmingham, hit goals in the 49th, 70th and 86 minutes to earn the side a place in the fourth round of the Carling Cup.

But despite his hat-trick heroics, Torres could still find himself on the bench at the JJB Stadium, with Benitez saying: "Will he start the next game? We will see. I cannot guarantee anything because I like to see my strikers during the week. We have four strikers and if I say now that he will play, it will be easy for Wigan."

He added: "I am only thinking about my team. Our supporters are very clever, they know that I am trying to do the best for the team."

When asked why Torres was left out of their previous two league games, Benitez replied: "This was a very different game to last Saturday, it is about space. Fernando knows why he was left out. It was because of space. I didn't need to explain it too much. All the players want to play in every game.

"If you say to me that Dirk Kuyt is a worse striker or Peter Crouch is a worse striker or Andriy Voronin is a worse striker then I would play Torres every game. But because we have very good strikers, I like to choose the strikers for every game and if it is necessary to change I will change.

"I am thinking about the best for my team. I think it was a terrific game for Fernando. But the team worked really hard and it was a very difficult game. We knew it could be like that but with the space, Fernando is really dangerous.

"But the rest of the team showed real character as well as Fernando. That is the key for me because you can play with one or two strikers working hard but other players not doing their jobs. But every player did a fantastic job."

Reading boss Steve Coppell saw his side twice get back on level terms only for Torres to undo all their good work.

"I thought we had some good opportunities but the difference was obviously £20million," said Coppell. "We are disappointed. You want to play against the best players and that's where you make your reputation by stopping these people playing. For us to come off and he's scored three, then we are disappointed."