LIVERPOOL: Fernando Torres has told Liverpool's owners to ease the pressure on under-fire manager Rafael Benitez by launching a major spending spree.

Benitez faces a fight to keep his job after Liverpool's woeful season hit rock bottom at Anfield on Wednesday when the Reds were knocked out of the FA Cup by Championship strugglers Reading.

Torres believes Liverpool, who are already out of the Champions League and may not even finish in the Premier League's top four, desperately need an injection of new blood to boost morale and strengthen a squad that is weak in several key positions.

The Spain striker, out for six weeks with a knee injury suffered against Reading, hopes George Gillett and Tom Hicks - Liverpool's American owners - will show their support for Benitez by giving him money to spend in this month's transfer window and then in the close-season.

Torres said: "It's frustrating. We finished second last season. This season should have been a turning point for us - a chance to do something great.

"But it hasn't been. It's now the owners' turn. They have to sign players so that this does not happen again.

"If we want to compete with United and Chelsea we need a much, much more complete squad. We need more genuinely first-class players and we can't let our best players leave."

Torres admits Liverpool must now focus on winning the Europa League to salvage something from the club's worst season in Benitez's six years on Merseyside.

He told Four-Four-Two magazine: "We didn't want to win the Europa League at the start of the season but it's a reality now.

"Now we have to win it. Anything less than winning the tournament would be terrible. We need to improve, we need to take responsibility and we need to get into the top four and win something.

"We have virtually no chance of winning the title now. Now we need to make the best of this situation."