Torres: An Intimate Portrait of the Kid Who Became King

where there was a bit of actual grass. Imagine that – what a luxury! Although one should point out that the two bits of garden were separated by a cement kerb, but that didn’t bother us. We used to jump over it just for the pleasure of stepping on the grass. The only two problems were Mr Miguel and the security guard. They were nightmares for us because one of the goals was just below Mr Miguel’s window. He was a bit of a strong character and we were scared of him. After we’d fired off a few shots he would appear at the window and begin to shout. We got frightened and used to run off. Our other dread was the security guard who used to patrol the zone, checking everything was in order. We were scared of him as well because it was forbidden to tread on the grass and if he caught us, he would take the ball off us. So if someone warned us he was coming, we would just pretend to be sitting around, twiddling our thumbs and keep the ball hidden.
    ‘I don’t know how many times we managed to avoid getting caught by the caretaker at the Colegio Tierno Galván school. In the evening, when no one was around, we used to jump over the fence to play on the indoor football surface. Then they put up a higher fence but we still managed to get over until one of us got stuck there. Even in the swimming pool there was a bit of grass and, secretly, we would take a few small balls in until the people who were sunbathing there started to complain.’

Alexis continues:
     
    ‘Football was our obsession. One thing we really enjoyed was taking corners. We would do a throw-in from an imaginary corner flag and either shoot or head-in. Then there was the ‘German goal’, which you scored after keeping the ball in the air without letting it touch the ground. The winner would be the first to score 10 and for that game there was no punishment, which was not the case with ‘the bottom’ …

The bottom?
     
    ‘We all had to endure it from time to time. You have the ball in the air and whoever is the first to let it touch the ground has to get on top of one of the goalposts – the goal could be a bench, for example. You then have to show your bottom while the others would shoot at you from the penalty spot, trying to hit you on the er, well, you know, on the bum …’

Haven’t you forgotten about the bottle tops and the picture cards?
     
    ‘You’re right. Those were the other things we were crazy about at that time,’ said Javier. ‘Yes, the little squares in-between one building and another – today they’re cement but before that there was earth. And it’s there that we set up our ‘stadiums’ and ‘cycle tracks’ with Coca-Cola and beer bottle tops, which we got from the bars. We put the club colours and the player’s face on them, a plastic stopper for the goalkeeper and a chickpea for the ball. In summer we changed from football to cycling, this time with bottle tops in the colours of Banesto or Kelme and faces of cyclists like Indurain. I remember that Fernando used to love playing with the bottle tops. He was good with them, while the marbles weren’t really his thing. And then there were the picture cards. At the beginning of the season, everyone went out to play with their wad of cards. When someone completed an album he could go up to the ‘castle’ – a place we’d built – or the window of his house and throw down the duplicate cards for the others below who would go crazy to grab them.’

Which team did Fernando support?
     
    ‘At that time,’ continues Javier, ‘he wasn’t supporting any team in particular, although he clearly loved playing football. It was only later, when he was at Atlético that he really began to follow their colours. He went to the Calderón as a ball boy while I, who’d always been a colchonero (fan of Atlético Madrid) and a milanista (fan of AC Milan), went to see the matches. Afterwards, we’d talk about the new songs, chants and dances they’d made up that Sunday. In fact, a nice little story comes to mind about Fernando when he was a player with the Atlético junior team. You should know that 14 September is the day of the fiesta of Fuenlabrada, in honour of the Cristo de la Misericordia, with celebrations going on the whole week. There are concerts, dances and around 24 hours of football, from nine in the morning to eleven at night, featuring mini-leagues, knockout games and finals in all categories. When we were small, our team always took part and we always