Reds crash out in South Africa

Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso and Albert Riera all started for Spain as they went out of the FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa to the USA.

It was Spain’s first defeat in 35 games and came after a run of 15 consecutive victories and came as the tournament’s biggest shock with the USA only just squeezing through the group stage.

Alonso said after the game, “We knew we would eventually lose a game and our winning streak would end.

“After going one down, we focused on getting ourselves back into the game and, I think, did everything right.

“Unfortunately we weren’t able to get the goal, and we have to tip our hats to the USA.

“We didn’t think it was going to be easy. Despite the good run, we’ve had our feet on the ground – and now we hope that we can learn from what happened here.”

USA will play Brazil in the final of the competition on Sunday.

Meanwhile Liverpool’s Spanish players now go on holiday until training resumes at Melwood next month.