Torres: An Intimate Portrait of the Kid Who Became King

for our team.’

What would it take for Liverpool to win the Premier League?
     
    ‘We need match-winners like Rooney or Tévez, footballers who break the deadlock in matches. In fact, Liverpool is losing the Premier League in home games against average teams.’

What was your first press conference in English like?
     
    ‘I’ve never been so scared in all my life.’

By the media pressure?
     
    ‘No. In England there’s no pressure from the media. There’s no daily coverage of the team. There are no sports papers and the tabloids give it two or three pages, which is what the major informative papers do too. Training sessions are behind closed doors and supporters and journalists can’t attend. There are no interviews or press conferences, only when we played in the Champions’ League because UEFA makes us. Everything’s a lot calmer but the first time I did a press conference in front of dozens of journalists I had a lot on my plate. If you don’t understand a question … but I got through it okay. More or less.’

How did you feel when it turned out that Liverpool would face Atlético?
     
    ‘When I got injured in Brussels the first thing that went through my head was the Atléti match in the Calderón. There were only a few days to go and I already knew I wouldn’t be able to make it. It was really frustrating not to be able to be there and see people again. But then you learn to live with it, the match comes round and when I saw the two sets of supporters on television swapping shirts it was the best thing since sliced bread from my standpoint – imagine! There were a lot of people there that I thought would be upset with me for leaving but that wasn’t the case. After hearing my name chanted in the Calderón it became the best moment all season besides all the awards.’

What went through your mind when you scored against Real Madrid at Anfield?
     
    ‘It was a special moment for me because I hadn’t trained for the 10 days leading up to it. I was playing in a lot of pain and I had to cut a bit off my boot because my foot wouldn’t fit in it with all the strapping on. I was on the verge of not playing but I was really dying to. In the end I managed to play and imagine what it was like when I made it to the game and I scored … the knock-out game wasn’t decided because it’s Real Madrid we’re talking about and anything could have happened. But the feeling … it was incredible. It was worth the risk.’

How did you feel when you netted the winning goal in the European Championship against Germany?
     
    ‘It’s the sort of feeling you spend your whole life looking for. You dream of being a player when you are younger, you dream of playing in the first division, and when you are there, you want more, you want to play for your country, you want to play in a European Championship, in a World Cup, but they are such far-fetched dreams that you think they’ll never come true … and when that ball went in … you realise that all the dreams you ever had have come true. A feeling we did have was that we knew that Spain was united around us. I was in the street and to be responsible for that goal, for the feeling of unity the country experienced after so many years without lifting a trophy, is incredible …’

And now, having realised that dream, it doesn’t seem so hard to make others come true: to become world champions …
     
    ‘We’re going to go all out for the World Cup, obviously. In our situation we can allow ourselves to imagine that happening. While remaining wary and humble, like the national team always has been, I believe it’ll be virtually the same team from the European championship, but with two years’ more experience. We can learn from the few mistakes we made, get stronger and go for it at the World Cup. And hopefully in South Africa we can repeat our success.’

What do you need to be the same Fernando Torres for the national side as you are at Liverpool?
     
    ‘I suppose I’d have to get used to the style of football that they play in the Spain team much more quickly. It’s more elaborate than how they play at Liverpool and there’s more touching the ball. Plus changing your mindset isn’t easy when, like in the World Cup qualifiers, you only have two or three days to train. Switching from the mentality in the English system to the one in the Spanish Liga is something I still have to sort out.’

What is Vicente del Bosque like?
     
    ‘He’s very