After a brief stay at Melwood following Liverpool’s successful tour of Asia, Fernando Torres and his team-mates head out to Spain for a match against Barcelona based club Espanyol. The Spaniard, who grabbed his first goal of the pre-season with a strike versus Singapore, will once again play in his home-land. Torres’ last game for Liverpool in Spain came against Real Madrid in the Champions League, a match the Reds won 1-0 courtesy of a Benayoun header (before thrashing the Whites 4-0 at Anfield in the return-leg- with Fernando opening the scoring).

The friendly against Espanyol kicks-off what will be a very busy month for Rafa Benitez’ side. With the Merseysiders’ first Premier League of the season on August 16 away to Tottenham, Liverpool will be looking to fine-tune their game before the domestic season gets underway.

Following the Reds game in Barcelona on Sunday, kick-off at 20:00 hours (BST), the league runners-up from last season will face Norwegian outfit FC Lyn on Wednesday 5, before welcoming Atletico Madrid to Anfield on Saturday 8, in what will no doubt be an emotive meeting for Torres against his boyhood club.

The Spain and Liverpool number ‘9’ already knows what it feels like to find the back of the net against Espanyol. The forward, who scored four goals for Atletico against the ‘Periquitos’, grabbed at goal at the Montjuic Olympic Stadium during 2003/04, Espanyol’s home until the end of last season.

The friendly match will be the inaugural game at Espanyol’s new Cornellá-El Prat Stadium. It will be a festive occasion as a mini-concert will be held before the game and there will also be a fireworks display once the match has ended.