Injured striker Fernando Torres has turned down the opportunity to watch Liverpool's Champions League clash with Atletico Madrid from the luxury of a VIP seat at the Vicente Calderon...

A hamstring tear has denied Torres the sensational homecoming that was planned for him by UEFA's Champions League draw.

The 24-year-old, who moved from Atleti to Anfield last year, was forced from the field early in Spain's World Cup qualifier against Belgium last week, and tests confirmed that he would be out of action for up to 15 days.

Thus, Torres will not face his former team-mates in Wednesday night's blockbuster in the Spanish capital, where he plied his trade for six years after graduating from Atletico's youth system in 2001.

'El Nino' was given the chance to view the game in style, however, as los Rojiblancos offered their former idol a place in the Calderon's VIP section.

But Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez told the Daily Mail: "We talked with the doctor and physios, and with the player himself, and we decided it was important for him to stay here and continue with his recovery."

Ewan Macdonald and James Walker-Roberts look back on Matchday 7 of Primera action with an eye on those who made out best - and worst - after the weekend's games...

WINNERS

Paco Chaparro - The most weathered face in Spanish football can finally crack a grin after Betis opened their winning account against Mallorca. A 3-0 home victory silenced the home critics - for now - as Emaná put in a showboating performance. Chaparro's job remains safe - again, for now. Manuel Ruiz de Lopera could, and probably will, swing the axe at any time.

Sporting Gijón - The Asturian side have just managed their first home win in the Primera in a decade, giving the long-suffering fans at the Molinón a chance to celebrate. It was "only" Osasuna, but three points are three points for the side whose time in the Segunda made the Israelites' jaunt in the desert seem like a long weekend.

Unai Emery - The young Basque may have the Primera's lamest haircut but he also has the best debutant record of any Valencia manager, ever. After his side's 4-0 thumping of Numancia he warned that Los Che can improve further yet, which may have weekend opponents Recreativo sucking their thumbs in anticipation.

Andrés Iniesta - Put in a fine performance for Barça away to Athletic Bilbao to cap off a week that also gave him international success. What's more, Barça have now won six in a row, and he's played in every single one of them. Consolation for being left off the Ballon d'Or shortlist, then...

Andrés Palop - The veteran Sevilla goalkeeper was in record breaking mood on Sunday night as he smashed not only the club record for the amount of minutes without conceding in the league but also the number of consecutive clean-sheets. The ex-Valencia stopper has not seen his net bulge for 495 minutes of La Liga action now since Mate Bilic scored way back on matchday 2.

LOSERS

Atlético Madrid - Whilst cross-town rivals Real Madrid are finding every way they can to win matches at the moment Atlético are doing exactly the opposite. Three consecutive league defeats, culminating this weekend with a heartbreaking loss to Los Blancos, and suddenly Atlético find their superb start in tatters and the league leaders a massive ten points ahead.

Osasuna - Los Rojillos might have installed fresh blood at the helm in the form of José Antonio Camacho but it looks like they need more than just a new manager following a disappointing defeat to newly-promoted Sporting Gijón which leaves them second from bottom in La Liga. They hold the unfortunate stat of being the only club in the top-flight without a win to their name and if that doesn't change sooner rather than later more heads will surely roll.

Clos Gomez - Sergio Agüero and Wesley Sneijder played second fiddle to the man in black at the Madrid derby as he well and truly stole the show with his antics on Saturday night. Two disallowed goals, two very debatable sendings-off and an overall poor handling of the game saw him grab the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Racing Santander/Deportivo La Coruña - One side winless away from home and the other winless at home it was inevitable that the spell would be broken as they clashed on Sunday, or would it? Unfortunately for Miguel Ángel Lotina and Juan Ramón López Muñiz none of their strikers could hit a barn door from ten paces at the moment and with 9 goals between them so far it is fair to say that David Villa will not exactly be quaking in his boots at their respective Pichichi prospects.

Numancia - Numancia grabbed all the headlines on the opening day as they shocked Barcelona but since then they have obtained just a point and currently prop up the table after seven matches. A four nil defeat to Valencia was harsh but the reality is that in this league hard work alone isn't enough and unless they start to score more they will find themselves back in Segunda.

Ewan Macdonald picks out the best and brightest from the seventh weekend of Liga action...

As always, more players impressed than there were places available in our team of the week, but nonetheless eleven star performers have been hand-picked to line up in Goal.com's best eleven.

A few teams aside, it was not a matchday for goalscorers. Only two sides managed more than two goals while fully eight didn't hit the back of the net at all. Of course that meant that there were no shortage of goalkeepers keeping clean sheets, but only one could make the line-up.

This week our excellent eleven lines up in something of a 4-4-1-1 formation with attacking wingers:

Diego López
Damiá - Pepe - Prieto - Adriano
Simão - Emaná - Aurelio - Iniesta
                Mata
Villa

Goalkeeper

Diego López (Villarreal): Another clean sheet for the current 'Zamora', and one that came complete with a penalty save. All those years on the bench at Real Madrid did him no harm whatsoever.

Defenders

Damiá Abella (Real Betis): Damiá actually played more of a midfield role for the Béticos during their 3-0 thrashing of Mallorca, but he's known as a right-back and he was certainly not shy about dropping back when it mattered. A mature showing.

Pepe (Real Madrid): Amidst difficult circumstances the Portuguese kept Kun Agüero shackled well for most of the heated derbi.

David Prieto (Sevilla): A perfect performance from the local boy made good, who is proving that he is well and truly a late bloomer worth watching.

Adriano (Sevilla): A roving, rushing left-back who wasn't shy about getting among the goals at Almería to preserve his side's great run of form.

Midfielders

Simão Sabrosa (Atlético Madrid): Changed the game for the rojiblancos when he came on and netted the equaliser in the Madrid clásico. An attacking substitution of the best sort.

Achille Emaná (Real Betis): Emaná's best performance in a verdiblanco shirt by far, and one of the best individual showings of the entire matchday. A masterful showing capped off by a late goal.

Mehmet Aurelio (Real Betis): Kept Mallorca's ineffectual midfield at bay and even got among the assists. Like Emaná, that was probably his best performance yet for his new side.

Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona): Started on the right side of attack but drifted around as the game went on, and to good effect, too. Although he didn't manage to provide an assist he was still his usual, effervescent self for the blaugrana.

Juan Mata (Valencia): Along with David Villa he creates a superb attacking double-act. Real Madrid may regret having let him go as he goes from strength to strength.

Striker

David Villa (Valencia): Superlatives are wasted on Villa, who remains, at this moment in time, the best striker in the country. It was 'only' Numancia but he still got among the goals and the action in convincing fashion.

Honourable Mentions

Record-breaking stopper Andrés Palop put in a great showing for Sevilla and only just missed the cut, while Gerard Piqué had one of his better performances for Barcelona at centre-back. Gonzalo and Godín of Villarreal were also a classy pairing.

Further up the pitch Sergio García had a good game for Betis, while Málaga's Eliseu was a key figure in his side's comeback against Getafe. Garmendia was one of the few threats for Athletic versus Barça, while substitute Camuñas' service for Recre deserved more than 1-1 draw against Valladolid (for whom Víctor excelled.) Medhi Lacen played a calm game for Racing, and Bilic was a positive influence for Sporting.

Rubén De la Red believes that he is capable of playing anywhere in Real Madrid's midfield and that he has the talent and confidence to compete with the big money signings.

Los Merengues' youth team product returned to the club in the summer after a successful year with Getafe and is pushing for a regular place in Bernd Schuster's team.

With the coach shuffling his team, De la Red could be asked to slot in to a defensive midfield position rather than play in his more comfortable role further forward in the derby against Atlético this weekend.

"I only care about playing, I don't care how. I want to help the team and I will try to do my best in that position if that's where the coach wants me to play. I've played as a defensive midfielder before and managed to help the team," he explained.

"I think we all have much responsibility on this team. There is a quality squad here despite the injuries."

Rafael Van der Vart, Guti, Fernando Gago and Wesley Sneijder are all jostling for De la Red's usual position, but he believes that he is as good as any of them.

"I work as hard as the rest and the coach decides who plays. I think I'm as good as anyone else. We all work hard to earn a spot on the team. The player who's fittest makes the cut in the end," he continued.

Looking ahead to the game in the Vicente Caldéron at the weekend, De la Red thinks that the visitors will not have an easy time against their city rivals.

"Atlético de Madrid are a very good team. They are strong contenders for titles despite losing three games. No team is favourite at this stage because there are many matches left to be held," he said.

"We will see who has chances of winning the league halfway through the second part of the campaign."

Europe’s premier club competition is now well underway and 32 of the continent’s finest teams are all still in the running to reach the knockout phase next year. Mark Pickering assesses the credentials of three of the more noteworthy teams in this year's edition of the Champions League...

The tournament, which enters group Match Day Three on November 4th, is replete with squads that are the envy of world football and features no less than eight previous Champions League winners.  

While there’s the usual cast of mainstays like Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United, who are synonymous with the competition, there are also some little-known newcomers and returning sides in this year’s European showpiece.  

Three of the most intriguing entrants are Spanish standouts Atlético Madrid, Cypriot newcomers Anorthosis Famagusta and Romanian debutants CFR Cluj.

The headline-grabbing trio have already made a splash in this year’s competition and are well placed to reach December’s draw for the knockout stages.  

Atlético are participating in the tournament for the eleventh time in their history and are intent on making up for lost time with their last appearance in the competition coming over a decade ago.  

Serbian Radomir Antić guided the Los Colchoneros to a famous league and cup double in 1996 and a much coveted Champions League berth.  

The double winners had a squad brimming with talent including Argentine legend Diego Simeone, Serbian playmaker Milinko Pantić, Madrid native Juan Manuel López and his widely popular countryman Kiko.  

The Spanish side won their group ahead of eventual competition winners Borussia Dortmund but narrowly lost out 4-3 to defending champions Ajax in the quarter finals.  

Twelve years on and the Spaniards have a squad reminscent of their class of 1996.

Now under the stewardship of Mexican Javier Aguirre, whose best known for guiding perennial strugglers Osasuana to the brink of the Champions League, Atletico are well placed domestically and gearing towards European honours.  

The star-laden squad has a strong Argentine influence with 20-year-old prodigy Sergio Aguero, captain Maxi Rodriguez, veteran keeper Leo Franco, on loan midfielder Ever Banega as well as naturalised Spaniard Mariano Pernia.

Aguirre’s ranks also prominently feature a Spanish core with namesakes Luis and Raul Garcia and their compatriot Antonio Lopez also holding key roles.  

The Mexican coach invested well in the summer, boosting his squad with a string of shrewd signings including Ajax’s John Heitinga, former French number one Gregory Coupet from Lyon, Czech captain Tomas Ujfalusi and Porto’s Paulo Assunção.  

Their timely spending spree added much needed depth to the squad and all but ensured Atletico would be a force to be reckoned with this term. That has proved the case as the La Liga side produced a highly polished performance to convincingly beat PSV Eindhoven 3-0 in Holland in their opener and followed up with a gutsy 2-1 win at the Vincente Calderon against Marseille.  

Now Atletico lead the way in Group D with maximum points and have a mouthwatering double header against Fernando Torres’ Liverpool in their sights which will likely decide who finishes top of the group.  

With such a talented squad, an ambitious president and the astute Javier Aguirre at the helm the Spanish side were expected to perform admirably in their return to the competition but brushing aside Champions League regulars PSV and Marseille with such ease has raised eybrows.  

Atletico will keen to test their mettle against Liverpool and could well torment their former idol Torres.   

Elsewhere newboys Anorthosis Famagusta, who became the first ever Cypriot side to reach the group stage and are one of the least fancied teams in the competition, are heroically topping Group B.

The little-known Cypriots overcome Greek giants Panathinaikos by three goals to one this week after a hard fought goalless draw away at Werder Bremen on Match Day One.  

Their resolute performance in Germany is the more commendable of their two impressive results as they kept out a free-scoring Werder Bremen side that had scored 18 goals in their previous six Bundesliga games and thumped Bayern Munich 5-2 a fortnight ago.  

Despite their stellar start to their first ever Champions League campaign their efforts have gone largely unnoticed.  

The Old Lady, who are coached by charismatic Georgian Temuri Ketsbaia, might be newcomers to European competition at the highest level but they do boast a wealth of international experience in terms of personnel and some familiar names.  

Former Real Madrid and Brazil star Savio, much travelled former Bordeaux man Paula Costa, former Portsmouth midfielder Giannis Skopelitis and towering Greek defender Traianos Dellas, once of AS Roma, all ply their trade with the Cypriot Champions.  

They may not be household names or at the height of their careers but collectively form a cohesive side who are relishing their first foray in the Champions League.  

The Cypriots have a daunting couple of games against Italian giants Inter ahead but will take heart from their two group games so far and strive to remain in the hunt for an unlikely place in the next round.  

Fellow newcomers CFR Cluj-Napoca have been the darlings of the tournament so far and attracted plaudits as well as unprecedented mainstream attention after beating AS Roma in Italy and holding last year’s finalists Chelsea to a stalemate.  

The Romanian Champions, who have an international flavour with ten South American players on their books, five Portuguese, three Ivorians, a Canadian and a handful of Romanians, have wildly exceeded expections.   

The Champions League newcomers stunned Roma in their first game in the competition with a deserved 2-1 victory at the Stadio Olimpico and in doing so sent shockwaves through European football.  

CFR Cluj proved their result in Italy was far from a fortunate one by taking the game to Chelsea in Romania and could well have emerged with all three points.

Six years ago they were among footballing backwaters in the the third tier of Romanian football - now they’ve become the first team from outside Bucharest to win Liga 1 in 17 years and are more than holding their own against Europe’s elite.  

The latest chapter in their meteoric rise is being overseen by Italian coach Maurizio Trombetta who will be looking for more of the same in the crucial double header against bottom placed Bordeaux. 

Mark Pickering

Sergio Agüero can go as far as he wants after his hat-trick in midweek against PSV according to Atlético de Madrid's last goalscorer in the Champions League, Milinko Pantic.

The Argentinian striker has won many plaudits since his commanding performance in Holland and the former Colchoneros star believes that he can become a legend.

"The boy has everything and he can do anything. He is really that good. He seems like he is 30 or older," Pantic told Marca..

"His second goal in midweek showed what he can do. Right now he is happy and in a good place.

"I think he will stay there for a long time although if Robinho's case is an example then it will up to the player when he goes."

Pantic still follows his former club's exploits and believes that Atlético can finally win a piece of silverware this term.

"I enjoyed the game against PSV and everyone should be very proud. It is a great day. The team was serious about their job and they can aspire to win everything," he added.

Lucas Brown, Goal.com

With his first experience of La Liga now under his belt, Atlético Madrid’s big summer signing John Heitinga says that he is loving life with Los Rojiblancos and that they play his way…

Speaking to his own fan-orientated website, the enthusiastic former Ajax defender said, “I have arrived at a very beautiful club, with a team that likes to attack as much as me. Already we have achieved our first objective: to arrive in the Champions League.”

The Dutch international has been a mainstay in coach Javier Aguirre’s plans so far and he says he is glad to have signed on early, rather than at the last minute.

“All that clamour when the close of the transfer window comes is not my cup of tea. I was very interested in deciding my future before the end of May. I believe that my decision to sign so quickly with Atlético has shown to be wise.”

Indeed, along with fellow centre-back and new signing Tomas Ujfalusi, the defender has impressed greatly since the start of the competitive season. In his first taste of La Liga, Heitinga rounded off a fine display by scoring his debut goal in the opening day 4-0 thrashing of Málaga which sent Atlético top of the league.

Thus, he insists things couldn’t be better, both on and off the pitch. He continued: “I am very pleased by the ways things are going so far in Spain. Everything is going very well, not just from a soccer point of view, but also adapting to a new language and a new way of life.

“Here, I feel that they take charge of everything to perfection.”

So far this season, Heitinga and Ujfalusi have looked the perfect pairing to put Atlético’s dismal defensive record to bed and Aguirre will be relying on them to continue doing so throughout the campaign. They travel to Valladolid this Saturday in a bid to continue their perfect start to what is shaping up to be a promising season.

James Walker-Roberts

Enrique Cerezo could not hide his delight after Atlético de Madrid secured Éver Banega on a season-long loan and believes that his arrival signals the club's intent to be successful.

Los Colchoneros' president revealed that his club pulled out all the stops to land the Argentinian midfielder from Valencia and believes that he could become a star.

Banega failed to make an impression during his first year at Mestalla after joining from Boca Juniors last summer, but Cerezo is confident that he will prove himself with Atleti.

"He is one of the most promising players in international footbal. He is young and has a real desire to succeed and those are two fundamental virtues to add to our team, the president said.

"Éver possesses and extraordinary quality and we are convinced that he will become a very important player here."

Atlético eased in to the Champions League group stages with a midweek win against Schalke and have been drawn to play Liverpool, PSV and Marseille and Cerzo thinks that his side will prove themselves.

"We are working towards building a great Atlético team. We want to be one of the biggest, like we always were, and now we have the chance to do that," he continued.

"Of course, we are not to spare any effort in signing a player that could be of interest to this club.

Atletico Madrid have today announced the official loan signing of Ever Banega from Valencia on a one year deal.

As last night's Champions League fiestas slowly die down, fans of Los Rojiblancos have even more good news to celebrate today. The club has announced that they have officially struck a deal with Valencia which will see Argentine international Ever Banega join on a one year loan deal.

The midfielder has been linked to the Madrid outfit for a while and it is believed that differences between the clubs have finally been sorted out. The biggest obstacle was the fact that Valencia wanted a fee of €4 million whereas Atleti were only willing to pay €1.5 million. Valencia appear to have caved, though, reportedly accepting a fee in the region of €1.3 million.

Ever Ready

The move will come as a great relief for coach Javier Aguirre, who has been considering various solutions to his midfield problems all summer. Also pleased is Atletico president Enrique Cerezo, who said at the unveiling today: “He is an Argentine international who, in spite of his youth, is one of the most promising players in international football.

“We should emphasise that Ever has extraordinary quality as a player and handles the ball very well, we are convinced that he will be an important part of the group.”

The deal does not come without stipulations, however. Most notable is the option for Atletico to terminate the deal if the player does not abide by the club's code of conduct. It also includes a clause which allows the Madrid side to buy the player after a year for a fee of €11 million.

Speaking today, Banega could not hide his delight at the move, saying: “I thank the President for his words of welcome. I will give my all to help Atletico and I expect that together we will have a great campaign.”

Grateful

The Argentine went on to describe that he was grateful to all who had backed him in his move.

"Kun Agüero spoke well to me of Atleti," he said of his young international teammate.

"He told me that it was a good club that would help me a lot, so I'm very pleased about that. Agüero, too, has always supported me at all times.

"The fact that the team is also in the Champions League fills me with enthusiasm, too."

Looking back on his time at the Mestalla, the midfielder - who was once caught in a sex act on his own webcam - continued, "In Valencia I took chances to play when they came to me, and now I'm looking to do the same here.

"I didn't see the game last night because I was travelling but my representatives told me that the team played very well. This is a good time for the club and the squad did well enough to enter the Champions League, so clearly there is competition.

Atlético Madrid’s sports director, Jesús García Pitarch, has maintained that Fluminense star, Thiago Neves is the last name on their shopping list and if they fail to land him, then there will be no more signings.