RAFA BENITEZ has warned Europe that lethal Fernando Torres is hitting peak fitness - bang at the right time.
The Kop's star Spanish striker blasted a hat-trick in 47 minutes against Hull on Saturday.
Perfect timing, with Liverpool facing a week which could shape their season.
Tomorrow they are in Italy to face Fiorentina, seeking to make it two Champions League wins on the bounce.
Then five days later they travel to Stamford Bridge for a battle of the title hopefuls, aiming to repeat last season's victory over Chelsea.
Hitman Torres will fly to Florence for the Group E clash in red-hot form, with his weekend hat-trick making it five goals in two games.
And manager Benitez has told Cesare Brandelli's men the Spaniard is only now beginning to find his feet again after another summer with barely a break.
Torres was the most important of Anfield's Spanish contingent to play through much of the close season on Confederations Cup duty.
It led to a sluggish start, with Liverpool losing two of their first three Premier League games as he showed the effects of a brief pre-season.
Yet after his destruction of the Tigers, Benitez believes Torres is once more showing why he is rated Europe's deadliest striker.
The Kop boss said: "We knew it would take time for the Spanish players to get fitter and it would take maybe a month or two to see the best of Fernando.
"But he has been working really hard and, in the last few games, you could see that hard work paying off.
"One thing he wants to do is score more goals away from home. Everyone is the same, they want to score goals.
"With him, he is always willing to learn and how much he does depends on him."
Torres is more concerned with what lies ahead, rather than the scalps already taken - and desperate to keep his purple patch going.
He admitted: "It has been an amazing week for me, with five goals in two games, and now we have two more important games coming up.
"If we can get six points from our first two Champions League matches it will be very positive and then we have that big game at Chelsea."
Even though he is topping the striking charts, the Anfield sureshot believes the spread of goals throughout the team should not be overlooked.
Seven different players have already found the target and Torres insisted: "We're not just relying on one player to score our goals.
"The positive thing for me is we have a lot of people scoring.
"That's important for the team, because it means the opponents are worried about Liverpool as a whole."
