A couple of
months ago you would probably not have bet a thin dime that Fernando
Torres might end the season as one of the chief protagonists,
threatening to win serious trophies.
Then
again that’s exactly the way it felt to most people the last time a
rank outsider, Chelsea, won the Champions League — back in 2012.
It
was then that Torres, something of a waif and stray at Stamford Bridge
by then, popped up with that dramatic breakaway goal at the Nou Camp to
knock out holders Barcelona.
Atletico Madrid striker Fernando Torres celebrates after scoring the winning goal against Athletic Bilbao
Torres leaps above Athletic Bilbao's defence to score a crucial winner during his side's midweek victory
The 32-year-old ace (centre) scored in his side's quarter-final first leg defeat by Barcelona before seeing red
A habit he seems to have adopted.
Then,
in circumstances sufficiently dramatic to match Manchester United in
1999 and Liverpool in 2005, he came on as a late, late substitute in the
final, won a corner with his last touch of normal time and watched
Didier Drogba rocket home one of the all-time great headers from it in
order to make the match 1-1 and take it to an extraordinary period of
extra-time.
The opponents that night of May 19 four years ago? Bayern Munich.
So you would imagine that Pep ‘Mr Scrupulous’ Guardiola already has his file open on El Nino.
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And also that Bayern’s players and fans, Philipp Lahm in particular, will be wondering: ‘Is he really back?’
Five goals in five games before this weekend suggests the answer: ‘Yes’, so Bavarians beware.
Lahm
and Guardiola have both been made to suffer by Torres — it was Herr Pep
who was in charge of Barcelona that night in the dramatic semi-final of
2012 and the Catalan went directly into his office that evening to tell
the late Tito Villanova: ‘That’s it, I’m quitting in May — I’ve had
enough’.
Lahm?
Well it was he who had the advantage on Spain’s centre forward in the
2008 European Championship final and should have been able to clear the
ball when Xavi sent the Madrileno barrelling through on Jens Lehmann’s
goal in the first half.
But
Torres somehow hurdled the diminutive German, wriggling around his
challenge and stabbed the ball past the advancing keeper for a 1-0
advantage which made Spain champions for the first time since 1964.
The three will be reunited this week in Atletico’s seething Calderon Stadium.
And El Nino’s recent eruption of form, confidence, fitness and leadership couldn’t have been better timed.
Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola will be wary of a reborn Torres following his recent form in front of goal
Torres is hoping to get his hands back on the Champions League trophy after winning the competition in 2012
The Spanish striker (left, pictured with Juan Mata) is all smiles after playing a key part in Chelsea's triumph
Even
though he’s been a magical player, capable of power, invention,
technique, pace, height, a range of goals, record-breaking statistics
and a cool, cold-blooded head for winning big matches there have been
moments this season when there didn’t look a great argument for Atletico
renewing the contract which ends in June.
It made me recall a time, at Chelsea, when Torres gave me to believe that the footballing life weighed heavily on him.
He
told me that he couldn’t wait to get back to Madrid and that the best
thing about his neighbourhood in London was the large majority of
foreign, often Asian, inhabitants
who were totally disinterested in
football and, thus, left him well alone.
But don’t mistake that for millionaire disdain.
When
I’ve been around Torres in situations where fans turn up to queue for a
photo or an autograph I don’t think I’ve ever seen a world famous
athlete spend more time, exhibit more generosity in his reactions.
Since rejoining Atletico, he became aware of a 10-year-old who had deluged the club with requests to meet Torres.
Torres slides on his knees after scoring in Chelsea's 3-2 aggregate win over La Liga giants Barcelona
One day he scheduled it and it happened.
The
youngster was beside himself: he watched training, received an Atletico
shirt signed by El Nino and there was conversation too.
The kid’s mum said to her son: ‘Tell Fernando who your hero is’.
‘Well, it’s you and it has been all my life,’ the youngster told the World Cup winner.
‘But
I do have another hero and that’s my friend back home because he’s
spending most of the year in hospital and every time he comes back to
his house, he hopes he’s won his battle. But, then, he needs to go back
to hospital again.’
It
transpired that the kid in question had leukaemia and Torres told his
admirer, firmly:
‘I’m not a hero, your friend is the real one. The
mother who works 12 hours a day every day to support a family of five
because she’s on her own — that’s a hero. Those are the people to
admire.’
Obvious, you’d say. But decent advice from a superstar to a star-struck kid.
Torres (pictured during his first spell at Atletico) made his name at the Vicente Calderon before moving abroad
‘People
seem to think that football increasingly about “me, me, me”, being the
guy who scores the goals, thinking about a fancy new haircut, better and
better cars — and that’s not what football is,’ says Torres.
‘It’s
not what young kids need to see or learn from. Business, money — that’s
what drives football now and often footballers are the most culpable.
We promote the opposite of the humility which is vital.’
Torres’
unfulfilled dream, in case you’re interested, isn’t to win this
Champions League and play a more significant part than the last time he
won the trophy but to have been at university in his late teens and
early Twenties.
‘During that phase of your life when you are opening up, learning, forming yourself,’ he says.
What
got in the way of him going to university, having excelled at school,
was the explosion of his career. Captain of Atletico at 19, double
European champion (goals in each of the finals) before that.
For
all that he was disparaged for his form after leaving Liverpool, this
is a man with medals for four European championships, goals in all four
finals, the Champions League, the Europa League (goal in the final
again) 100 goals for Atletico and a role in the goal which won Spain the
World Cup Final.
Troubles
and medals he’s had, but not in equal share. The advice he’d give a
17-year-old Fernando Torres if he could? ‘Talk little, listen a lot.’
It’s a big week for the humble El Nino.
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