Torres: An Intimate Portrait of the Kid Who Became King

won. This particular year, Fernán was already at the junior level with Atlético, which obviously meant that they wouldn’t let him play in neighbourhood tournaments like ours. But we needed him. We had to win a match in order to get to the final. So we went to get him. He came out with a photocopy of his DNI (national identity card) and signed up. There was someone who really didn’t like him and called us cheats but thanks to him, we won the match and the tournament. It was the last time he played with us.’

Gómez senior explains:
     
    ‘Torres left, while most of the local lads didn’t want to go off and carried on playing as amateurs and fans of the game. It’s true that various good players like Fernando Sánchez and Fernando Burgos came out of Fuenlabrada but the majority, like Israel for example, just wanted to do it for fun and stayed here or, like my son, didn’t have the determination or the will to make the effort. Training didn’t bother Fernando, for example. He would come out on his own with the ball under his arm. In the case of Alexis, someone had to take the ball. Torres had all the determination in the world and he wanted to get on the ladder.’
    So, for the 1994–95 season, he went to AD (Asociación Deportiva) Rayo 13. The rayo (ray) was the symbol of the club, founded in 1992, and 13 was the number of the street for the team headquarters. The diagonal yellow ray was emblazoned into the badge of the club shirt, which featured vertical blue and black vertical stripes like those of Inter Milan.
    ‘Four of us went from Mario’s Holanda to Rayo: Fernán, Alejandro, Rici and me,’ says Alexis. ‘The change from indoor football to a team of eleven suited Torres very well, because on the bigger pitch he could make better use of his speed and his shooting skills. Fernando was already a “killer”, a real assassin in the penalty area. Myself, I’d gone from left wing in indoor football to midfielder in 11-a-side. I searched him out, gave him the balls and he took his fill of goals. It was incredible – if I’m not mistaken his tally was around 55 or 60. We won the league, pretty much without a problem. I only remember one match where we had to make a real effort, against Naranjo. We were losing 2-0 but Fernando arrived and made it 2-1 and then scored again to make it a draw. Amazing.’
    That’s the opinion of his friend and team-mate. But what’s the view of the Rayo 13 coach, Andrés Perales? Now 54, his enthusiasm for the game is as great as ever and he continues to teach young boys the art of football.
    ‘He was a marvel and very kind-hearted but in the first few sessions it was really complicated to work with the lad. He was annoyed with his team-mates because they didn’t pass the ball to him. He always wanted the ball, he always wanted to score. And he did it in every way possible, from midfield, or by outwitting the opposing players in front of him. He had quality and he was smart. Once or twice he really lost it, like with ‘El Chino’ (‘The Chinese’), a left-footed winger, a nice lad. They got entangled and I had to go and sort them out. El Chino went home while Torres stayed. With me, there were never any problems. I was pretty strict and asked for respect and hard work from the whole team. I made him play on the right wing and then as striker.
    ‘Anecdotes? Loads … like the time in Leganés when we were losing 3-0, he and one of the wingers, David, gave the runaround to his marker. We won 4-3, which put us in the final. Yes, Torres was a footballing machine. But I never thought he would get so far.’
    But Torres did get far. And very far. What do his ex-team-mates think of him now?
    ‘He’s realised the dream we all had,’ says Alexis, ‘all those kids kicking a ball around the neighbourhood. We grew up together and now he’s the striker who scored the goal for Spain in the final of Euro 2008. It’s a pleasure to have played with him and to have him as your friend.’
    The long chat is over and the train for central Madrid is leaving shortly from Fuenlabrada Central. Javier walks through the local streets to the station, pointing out the places of his childhood: the small squares, Mr Miguel’s window, and the fence they jumped over. Just in front of the Mario’s Holanda cafetería, which has been closed for some time, is Rubén, the goalkeeper from that team. He also continues playing football as an amateur. He starts to talk about matches, results,