Aston Villa 1 Liverpool 2: Steven Gerrard's superb free-kick ensured victory for Liverpool on the opening day of the league campaign for the first time during the Rafael Benitez era.

Villa looked to have rescued a point when skipper Gareth Barry cancelled out Martin Laursen's firs-half own goal with an 86th-minute penalty.

But then Gerrard curled a 20-yard shot past the dive of Stuart Taylor barely 60 seconds later, after he had been brought down by Stiliyan Petrov.

Overall Liverpool were worthy winners with record signing Fernando Torres making a satisfactory debut despite spurning a golden first half opportunity.

The £20.2million capture from Atletico Madrid linked up effectively with Dirk Kuyt before being taken off with 11 minutes remaining.

But man of the match for the umpteenth time was England midfielder Gerrard who exerted so much influence over proceedings even before his goal while Jamie Carragher excelled at the heart of the Villa defence.