2010–11 Chelsea F.C. season to lead his side into a 1–0 triumph over the defending champions. Chelsea were leading the Premier League table for almost half a season, before Manchester United overtook them when Chelsea went through a bad period during the winter saga. Altogether in the Premier League, Chelsea won 21 games, drew 8 and lost 9. They conceded the fewest goals compared to all the other clubs in the league, sharing this with Manchester City. In January 2011, on the last day of the transfer window, Chelsea bought Fernando Torres for a club-record-breaking and British-record-breaking fee of £50 million from Liverpool. They
Rafael Benítez his club's new owners had to back him in the transfer market in order for Liverpool to progress following his side's 2–1 loss to Milan in the final. It was reported Benítez did not feel he had the complete support of the new owners, a thought that was compounded by Liverpool's initial lack of activity in the transfer window, although the club played these rumours down. Benítez's spending was, eventually, significant, breaking Liverpool's transfer record when signing Spanish striker Fernando Torres from Atlético Madrid as well as signing Ryan Babel, Yossi Benayoun, Lucas Leiva and Andriy Voronin. Among those Benítez