It was a combination previously confined to the imagination – Luis Suarez and Fernando Torres, together in the attack at Anfield.
The two greatest strikers of Steven Gerrard’s Liverpool career were twinned in his team; not, as Roy Hodgson and then Kenny Dalglish thought as they instigated the Uruguayan’s arrival, to terrorise Premier League defences, but for 45 minutes and for the purposes of charity.
If the sight of them in harness prompted questions of how they might have fared together, perhaps an anticlimactic answer was supplied.
While they contributed a combined 163 Liverpool goals – Suarez, with 82, outscored his predecessor by one – neither found the net in Sunday’s 2-2 draw against a side captained by Jamie Carragher.
Torres sent a wayward shot spiralling into the Kop. Suarez followed suit with a free kick that had too much elevation. His principal contribution was to earn a penalty kick, which Gerrard converted for the equaliser.
It may have been as much of a farewell to Gerrard as the more illustrious of Liverpool's alumni. His red card against Manchester United means the midfielder has a maximum of two competitive home games left.
Like Pepe Reina and Xabi Alonso, neither of whom had the chance to say a proper goodbye, he was substituted to standing ovation.
Yet the fascination was with the forwards. The strikers’ paths crossed on a momentous day in January 2011, Suarez signing on the day Torres was sold.
Some 50 months later, they were belatedly paired. The half-time blast of Suarez’s signature song, I Just Can’t Get Enough, heralded his introduction for the first time since he joined Barcelona last summer.
It was not the only popular substitution. The loud choruses of his name signalled that Torres has finally been forgiven for joining Chelsea in 2011.
The feelings of rejection have faded. This was a restorative occasion. A hate figure has been reinstated to his rightful place in the modern-day Anfield striking greats.
He formed part of the attraction for a capacity crowd who raised at least £1 million (Dh5.5m) for Liverpool’s charitable foundation. An exhibition game was sprinkled with stardust by the presence of Anfield greats and, in Thierry Henry, Didier Drogba and John Terry, some special guests.
There were snapshots from the past and from parallel universes. A pinpoint 50-yard diagonal pass from Gerrard to Henry illustrated what a potent combination they could have been; the Istanbul alliance of Gerrard and Alonso were together again; so, later, the most destructive duo in English football in 2009, Gerrard and Torres.
Henry glided around menacingly, faking a shot while passing with his wrong foot, but other strikers scored. Mario Balotelli smashed an unstoppable shot into the bottom corner and then picked out Drogba, who dummied his way past Brad Jones to score.
Then Gerrard replied with two spot kicks, ignoring Carragher’s attempts to distract him for the first and benefiting from his friend’s penalty-box push on Suarez to concede the second. Honours even on a day when there were no losers.
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