"He's brilliant, fantastic. I wouldn't swap him for any other striker anywhere," said the skipper.
"He has been massive for us and gives us so many different options up front. He's banging them in and always looks a threat every time he plays.
"The lad who comes into their side for Materazzi will not be looking forward to his 90 minutes against Fernando.
"We will be looking to hit them on the counter-attack and Torres plays that game better than anyone around.
"Not only can you stick the ball over the top and let him chase it, but he can make things happen himself like he did against Marseille earlier in the tournament, when we needed to win in France to go through to the last 16.
"He roasted Materazzi in the first-leg. He (Materazzi) might think he was hard-done-by to be sent-off but he could have been booked for a bad tackle before he had one yellow, never mind the second one.
"It shows how easy Torres' pace and strength unsettled a World Cup winner.
"You can play him on his own or with a partner and he just adapts perfectly.
"He's certainly made life tough for the foreign boys coming to England now. When you look at the impact he has made in just seven months here, it means that no-one now can make excuses about needing time to settle.
"I feel England suits him even better than Spain. He suits the constant flow and the rough and tumble of the Premier League better than the stop-start technical La Liga.
"He is just a kid really in football terms, and he is going to get better and better. That is a frightening thought, but not for us. It's frightening for the defences he is going to be coming up against."
