LONDON: Fernando Torres endured a miserable debut for Chelsea Sunday after losing 1-0 to former club Liverpool, which lost its star striker to the defending Premier League champion six days earlier. Chelsea's 50-million-pound ($80 million) recruit managed only two shots before being substituted in the 65th minute at Stamford Bridge. Within four minutes of the Spain striker leaving the pitch, Raul Meireles hit his fourth goal in five games to complete Liverpool's double over Chelsea this season and give the club a fourth straight league win without having conceded a single goal. Gerrard's cross from the right was missed by goalkeeper Petr Cech and Branislav Ivanovic, who had collided and had an angry exchange in the first half, and the ball reached the far post where Meireles hooked the ball into the net. “We are quite on a roll at the moment and are enjoying it,” Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish said. “I didn't see our goalkeeper having too much to do and our defense was magnificent in front of him. I don't think any of their forwards will be too happy about the game they had.” In Sunday's other match, Birmingham climbed out of the relegation zone with a 1-0 victory over bottom-place West Ham. Nikola Zigic took advantage of Wayne Bridge's slack marking to head home from Sebastian Larsson's free kick in the 65th minute to secure Birmingham's win. Battling relegation a month ago, Liverpool is now six points behind Chelsea, which occupies the final Champions League spot. The fourth-place London club remains 10 points behind leader Manchester United, which lost for the first time this season after going down 1-0 at Wolverhampton Saturday to lead second-place Arsenal by four points. Real crushes Sociedad Cristiano Ronaldo scored a double to lead Real Madrid to a 4-1 win over Real Sociedad Sunday as the Spanish giants stayed seven points behind league leader Barcelona. Jose Mourinho's team had to win after its fierce rival opened up a 10-point gap through its league-record 16th straight win after beating Atletico Madrid 3-0 on a Lionel Messi hat trick Saturday. Madrid responded to the challenge with a convincing performance to stay perfect in 11 games at Santiago Bernabeu stadium this season. Earlier, Sevilla and Malaga drew 0-0 in a dull Andalusian derby as both teams let important points slip. Genoa holds AC Milan Napoli beat Cesena 2-0 Sunday to close the gap to Serie A league leader AC Milan to three points. AC Milan drew 1-1 away to Genoa where Alexandre Pato opened the scoring, but Antonio Floro Flores equalized with his first Genoa goal since joining during the transfer window. For Napoli, Edinson Cavani and Jose Sosa scored. Third placed Lazio also let a one-goal lead slip when it drew 1-1 at home to Chievo Verona. Hernanes opened the scoring in first-half injury time, but Bostjan Cesar leveled midway through the second period. Also Sunday, it was; Bologna 1, Catania 0; Brescia 2, Bari 0; Lecce 2, Palermo 4; Parma 1, Fiorentina 1.
