Champions League team news: Liverpool are banking on the expected return of Fernando Torres against Atletico Madrid tomorrow night to end a dismal record against Spanish sides at Anfield and fire them into the last 16 of the Champions League.

Torres missed the trip to his old club two weeks ago when a 1-1 draw left Liverpool and Atletico level at the top of Group D with seven points and favourites to progress.

Liverpool have made light of the absence of Torres who has not played since injuring his hamstring on international duty last month, going stride for stride with Chelsea at the top of the Premier League.

On Saturday, however, his lethal finishing was badly missed when Liverpool failed to convert numerous chances to kill off Tottenham Hotspur before losing 2-1, a defeat that cost them top spot after just one week.

"Hopefully he will be ready," manager Rafael Benitez told the club's website (www.liverpoolfc.tv). "If he cannot start the game then he will be on the bench if everything is okay."

Anfield is a daunting stadium for visiting sides but those arriving from Spain often find it to their liking.

Liverpool have failed to win any of their last five Champions League home fixtures against Spanish clubs and did not even manage a goal in the last four.

Dirk Kuyt has stepped up to the mark in Torres' absence and has emerged as Liverpool's unlikely top scorer this term, but the Dutchman insists they cannot afford to let chances slip like they did against Spurs.

"We are always under pressure, with a big game virtually every three days. We are used to such a situation," he said today. "But we will not be looking backwards, we will be intent on securing qualification from our group as quick as possible.

"Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal have all lost games this season, and that was our first at Spurs.

"We have quality in our team and we know what we are capable of. We will set out to make sure we beat Atletico, we will not be worrying about what happened at Spurs."

He added: "We have to be more ruthless, we must take the chances we make or things like what happened at Spurs will happen again.

"Everybody knew after Saturday what the problem was - there was not much that the manager needed to say. We played very well again, we were on top for a long time.

"But we missed too many chances. Sometimes that happens, so now we must make sure we are ready for Atletico and make sure the same does not happen again."

Meanwhile, Chelsea's England left-back Ashley Cole has been diagnosed with a small tear to his calf muscle and will be out for seven to 10 days.

Cole was injured in a challenge with Steed Malbranque during Saturday's 5-0 win over Sunderland and will now miss tomorrow's game against Roma and next weekend's Barclays Premier League fixture against Blackburn.

Defender Ricardo Carvalho (hamstring) and Michael Ballack (foot) and Michael Essien (knee) remain out.