(CNN) -- Written off by all and sundry as the most expensive flop in English Premier League history, Fernando Torres is seemingly back in business.
Four goals in two games have transformed the misfiring striker from the on-pitch personification of Chelsea's recent problems to perhaps the man who can earn Rafael Benitez a bit more time in the club's managerial hotseat.
"I said before that if the team play well and create chances he will score goals," Benitez said after Torres netted twice in Saturday's 3-1 win at Sunderland -- Chelsea's first victory in eight EPL games.
"It's fair to say that we are watching a Torres with more confidence and belief. I was analyzing his movements and adjusting a few things. It's a question of confidence and differences in movements. The most important thing is that he appears confident."
The victory kept Chelsea third ahead of Sunday's Manchester derby -- seven points behind leaders United and four adrift of second-placed City.
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It capped a week which started with Chelsea's embarrassing group-stage exit from the Champions League and which will end with the squad traveling to Japan for the Club World Cup.
Torres ended his two-month drought with two goals in Wednesday's 6-1 thrashing of Danish team Nordsjaelland, but the next day he had an immediate reminder of his earlier struggles from the man he is seeking to follow as a Chelsea hero.
Didier Drogba, back training with the club to keep fit for next month's Africa Cup of Nations, put on a lavish dinner for last season's Champions League-winning team -- spending a reported $1.3 million as he had special commemorative rings made for his former colleagues.
Torres did not attend the affair laid on by the player who kept him out of the Chelsea starting lineup following his $80 million move from Liverpool -- Drogba, the fan favorite who finally delivered the European title that owner Roman Abramovich has always craved, with his last kick for the club before moving to China.
Whether it served as a catalyst for Saturday's performance, only Torres knows, but the Spain international shrugged off the lethargy that followed his promising start to this season as he looked more like the man who starred for Benitez at Liverpool.
Torres opened the scoring in the 11th minute from Eden Hazard's cross for his first in the EPL since October 6, and made it 2-0 at halftime with his first successful penalty in English football after Sebastian Larsson tripped Ramires.
Torres hit the crossbar soon after the break, but compatriot Juan Mata followed up to score, and Sunderland dropped into the relegation zone despite a consolation from Adam Johnson.
It was Benitez's first league win in four games since replacing the sacked Roberto Di Matteo, a hugely unpopular appointment with the Chelsea fans.
"Little by little we are adjusting things, but if we have more confidence, with the quality we have we will win games," said the Spanish coach, who will now seek to repeat his 2010 Club World Cup success with Inter Milan -- after which he was promptly sacked having fallen out with players and officials at the Italian club.
"It's important to have an opportunity to win any trophy, but especially this one," Benitez said.
Fernando Torres scored twice as Chelsea crushed Danish side Nordsjaelland 6-1 at Stamford Bridge but it wasn't enough to save them from elimination from the Champions League. Juventus picked up a 1-0 win at Shakhtar Donetsk to secure its place in the last-16 and dump Chelsea into the Europa League.
Champions League action
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Dynamo Kiev's Ideye Brown fights for the ball with Dinamo Zagreb's Domagoj Vida in a game which was halted after 11 minutes following a snow storm in Croatia. The teams returned to the field after a 17 minute delay and played out a 1-1 draw
Champions League action
"It was a great experience for me and I hope it will be for my players. I got to the final in 2005 and won the tournament in 2010."
Arsenal ended a four-match winless run by beating fifth-placed West Brom 2-0 thanks to two penalties from Mikel Arteta -- the first coming after an apparent dive from fellow Spanish midfielder Santi Cazorla.
"There was zero contact, it wasn't even close. I am not sure what the referee saw," West Brom manager Steve Clarke said.
"It was a bad decision for us and obviously changed the shape of the afternoon. We knew the longer the game went the more pressure would come on Arsenal."
Arsene Wenger's team had dropped to 10th after last weekend's defeat by Swansea, but climbed back up to sixth as the London side bounced back from the midweek Champions League loss to Olympiakos.
Norwich's 4-3 win at eighth-placed Swansea was marred by the arrest of one of the home team's fans for an alleged racist gesture.
Norwich's Cameroon defender Sebastien Bassong complained after being abused following a second-half goal from Robert Snodgrass that put Norwich 4-2 ahead.
"Within 10 minutes of the report the stewards had got hold of the TV footage, replayed it, identified the alleged person in question and within that period he was arrested for a racially aggravated public order offense," said a Swansea spokesman.
"The matter is with the police, but from the club's point of view we abhor racism and we have worked hard over the years to make this a family club. We will look into it and a further statement will follow in due course."
Spanish striker Michu scored twice for Swansea to move top of the EPL scoring charts with 12, lifting him above Manchester United's Robin van Persie and Liverpool's Luis Suarez. Torres now has six, and 11 in all competitions this season.
Southampton moved out of the bottom three for the first time this season, beating fellow promoted side Reading 1-0 to be equal on points with Aston Villa and Wigan.
Villa drew 0-0 with mid-table Stoke, while two goals from James McCarthy earned Wigan a 2-2 draw with bottom club Queens Park Rangers.
QPR set a new record of 16 EPL games without a win, beating Swindon's unwanted mark from the 1993-94 season, as new manager Harry Redknapp had to settle for a third successive draw despite taking a second-half lead through striker Djibril Cisse following defender Ryan Nelsen's first-half equalizer.
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He passed away at the age of 32, dying in hospital after contracting an infection. Mendieta was unable to return home to his wife and children because he was owed four months' wages.
Mendieta is mourned by wife Valeriana Alvarez and their children Bele (left) and Gaston.
Mendieta's plight has highlighted the schism in Indonesian football, where two organizations are fighting for control of the game following the creation of a breakaway league. The players' union says 13 clubs are behind in promised salary payments.
Mendieta (left) celebrates with Persis Solo teammates Romuald Noah and Yanuar Ruspuspito after scoring in a match against Persip Pekalongan.
Juventus secured its place in the next round with a 1-0 win in Ukraine courtesy of Olexander Kucher's 56th minute own goal. The victory also enabled the Italian club to snatch top spot from Shakhtar with the Donetsk side finishing second.
Gary Hooper and Kris Commons were the stars as Celtic claimed a 2-1 win over Spartak Moscow to clinch its place in the knockout phase. Hooper's 21st minute strike gave the Scottish champions the lead, only for Ari to equalize six minutes before the break. Commons fired home the winner from the penalty spot with nine minutes remaining.
Leo Messi endured a miserable night after he was forced off with injury during Barcelona's 0-0 draw with Benfica. The striker, who started the night on the Barcelona bench with his side having already qualified for the next stage, has scored 84 goals in 2012 and was hoping to break Gerd Muller's record of 86 goals in a calendar year which the former Bayern Munich and Germany forward set back in 1972.
Mario Gomez and Xherdan Shaqiri were both on target as last year's finalist Bayern Munich secured top spot in Group F with a 4-1 win over 10-man BATE Borisov. Thomas Muller and David Alaba were also on target, while Denis Polyakov was sent off for BATE.
Jonas fired Valencia to a 1-0 win at Lille with a 36th minute penalty. The Spanish club was already through to the last-16 before the game and will now look forward to the knockout phase.
Burak Yılmaz struck his sixth goal of the Group Stage to inspire Galatasaray to a 2-1 triumph at Braga. The win takes the Turkish side into the last-16 at the expense of Romanian side Cluj. Mossoro had given Braga a first-half lead, but goals from Yilmaz and substitute Aydın Yılmaz sealed the victory.
Cluj missed out on the last-16 of the Champions League despite becoming the first Romanian team to win at Old Trafford. Luis Alberto's 56 minute strike gave Cluj victory in United manager Alex Ferguson's 200th Champions League match in charge.
The Brazilian government has implemented programs to control violence in shantytowns around the country. Here an officer patrols one of Rio de Janeiro's favelas.
The South American nation's World Cup bid team has announced that $900 million will be spent on security for the soccer tournament as it tries to appease safety concerns.
Brazilians are passionate about football. Here Corinthians supporters cheer their team's players at at the Cumbica International Airport in Sao Paulo before their departure to December's FIFA Club World Cup in Japan.
While the draw for next year's Confederations Cup was taking place, members of the anti-violence group Paz de Rio protested in Sao Paulo against the increase of the murder rate in Brazil.
Brazilian model Adriana Lima was enlisted to help with the draw for the tournament, which is traditionally staged by the World Cup host as a warmup event and features eight nations.
Rio's iconic Maracana Stadium is still undergoing renovation, but is expected to be ready for when Brazil's five-time world champions begin their defense of the Confederations Cup title next June.
The snow in Zagreb was so bad that players were ordered to leave the pitch and wait in the changing rooms, while groundstaff helped to clear the pitch. Andriy Yarmolenko's 41st minute strike had given the visitors the lead but a 90th minute penalty by Ivan Krstanović secured a point for Dinamo.
Real Madrid's Kaka celebrates becoming the all-time leading Brazilian goalscorer in Champions League history after claiming his 28th strike in the competition to overtake Rivaldo.
Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring for Real Madrid against Ajax to register his 61st goal of 2012. Real eased to a 4-1 win thanks to a brace from Jose Callejon and a Kaka strike.
Malaga became the first Spanish side in Champions League history to take the field with 10 non-Spanish players in its starting line-up. Uruguay's Sebastian Fernandez, who is from Uruguay, was a constant menace for the Anderlecht defenders in a game which finished 2-2.
Zenit captain Danny stunned AC Milan by firing his side into the Europa League with a 1-0 win at the San Siro. Milan had already qualified for the last-16 of the Champions League after finishing second to Malaga.
Daniel Congre of Montpellier challenges Teemu Pukki of Schalke during the 1-1 draw in France. The point was enough for the German side to top Group B ahead of Arsenal, which was beaten by Olympiakos.
Carlos Tevez takes on Ilkay Guendogan of Borussia Dortmund during a frustrating night for Manchester City as it crashed out of European competition with a 1-0 defeat. City becomes the first English team to have failed to win a single group game in the compeititon.
Borussia Dortmund's Julian Schieber celebrates his winner against Manchester City as his team secures top spot in Group D. The Germans finished one point ahead of Real Madrid and will be relishing the knockout phase.
Paris Saint-Germain star Thiago Silva played a key role in his side's 2-1 win over Porto. The Brazil defender fired his team ahead after 29 minutes before Jackson Martinez equalized for Porto. Ezequiel Lavezzi's 61st minute strike ensured victory for the French.
Arsenal's Marouane Chamakh endured a disappointing night as the Gunners were beaten 2-1 by Olympiakos in Greece. Tomas Rosicky's effort had given Arsenal the lead but strikes from Giannis Maniatis and Kostas Mitroglou gave the Greek side victory.
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