Torres scored twice and was involved in the other two goals and when he was taken off minutes from the end it was to a tumultuous, standing ovation.
He is lightning-fast, has a vivid imagination, strikes the ball truly and is not averse to a spot of impudence as when he won the corner that led to his second goal and Liverpool's fourth - deliberately playing the ball off Sol Campbell in front of the Kop.
He was the star atop a glittering Liverpool performance that came after recent defeats at home to Manchester United and away to Chelsea.
If Torres takes the majority vote in any man-of-the-match award, he was closely followed by Javier Mascherano, an absolute brain-box in front of the Liverpool back four, linking with the tireless Steven Gerrard and spraying accurate passes everywhere.
That meant that Portsmouth spent most of the afternoon chasing elusive figures. Redknapp complained that because of Portsmouth's frozen training pitches he had not been able to work with his players they way he would have wanted to for two days.
He stressed that he was not making excuses and added, generously, that Liverpool could beat anyone on their day.
This was one of them. They dropped into their confident, slick-passing ways from the start and as the goals flew in you could only reflect that Liverpool were a team in tune with each other.
Players were always running into space, supporting each other, demanding possession and firing at their former goalkeeper David James. Going two goals up with the match not 16 minutes old provided Portsmouth with a hurdle they never looked like clearing.
Harry Kewell, showing shades of his old form, was involved in Yossi Benayoun's opening goal as was Torres, who had beaten Campbell with the ball running wide to Kewell. He pulled it back to the edge of the penalty area and Benayoun finished the job.
Two minutes later Dick Kuyt was on a run, fed by the industrious Mascherano, and Torres was in to meet the cross. Campbell closed in but only managed to kick the ball against his fellow central defender Sylvain Distin, who watched it roll into the net.
Surely there would be no coming back but Redknapp opted for a double substitution at half-time, bringing on Kanu up front and Lauren at right-back in place of the injured Glen Johnson.
Kanu's perception was immediately to the fore. In the 56th minute he drove a hard, diagonal cross from left to right to find Benjani, who turned inside John Arne Riise to find the bottom left-hand corner.
At 2-1, Portsmouth may have thought they had a chance. Torres was having none of that and his goal-sniffer's instinct brought him the opportunity that effectively killed off any Portsmouth challenge.
Mascherano played the ball forward to Ryan Babel, who vaulted James as the goalkeeper blocked the ball. Torres was following up to pass the ball into the net.
Torres, the Spanish star who cost Liverpool £21.5?million from Atletico Madrid, completed the victory when the corner he had won was cleared out to Jamie Carragher. He launched it high into the box where Gerrard cleverly headed the ball into Torres's path and a volleyed left-footer confirmed his Koppite hero status.