Aquilani delighted to make his mark

Liverpool midfielder Alberto Aquilani breathed a sigh of relief after finally realising his dream of scoring in front of the Kop.

The Italy international, a £20million summer signing from Roma, capped his first Premier League 90 minutes with a fine strike in the 4-1 win over Portsmouth.

'I feel really good because I've scored my first goal after a really long time. I'm also really happy because of the result - we needed that,' he told the Reds' official website.

'The goal is even more special because I scored it in front of the Kop. I said when I arrived in Liverpool that I wanted to score in front of the Kop and that moment has arrived.

'I think I played well but I have to take it step by step. Today was a good day and now we look to the next game.

'Above all, the big thing was that we played well and won. We have to take things step by step now. We can only think about Sunday after Thursday.

'Can I do better? Everyone can do better. Fernando (Torres) made things easy. He is a special player, you easily play with him and Stevie (Gerrard).'

Spain striker Torres scored twice with Ryan Babel also on target and Liverpool now head into Thursday's Europa League match against Lille trailing 1-0 from the first leg.

After that, it's over to Old Trafford for Sunday's clash with Manchester United.

'We need to win a lot of games to get into the top four and this is the first,' added Aquilani.

'It has been a difficult season for me because I have had a lot of injuries but now I feel fit and am right to play. I had chance against Portsmouth and I had to take it.

'Most of all, I am happy because we won. We won 4-1 and it was a really good performance; one that we really needed.'

This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.