Torres: An Intimate Portrait of the Kid Who Became King

emotive letter when Fernando got his
Bachillerato
(equivalent to A-levels).’
    A good student and an excellent footballer, so much so that he regularly ends up being the youngest in each of his Atlético junior teams. He plays with youngsters who are one, two or even three years older than him. It is a way of growing up more quickly and a way of learning more rapidly the rules of football because the older ones are stronger technically and physically and better-prepared mentally. Fernando works his way up through the junior ranks. Manolo Rangel is his teacher for three seasons.
    Then it is Pedro Calvo’s turn to take charge of him for a year. Fernando is fourteen. How was he? ‘His manner and professionalism were the same as they are now,’ explains 40-year-old Calvo, enjoying a cafe
latte
in a central Madrid bar. ‘He was already the team captain but the responsibilities didn’t weigh him down. You would tell him that we eat at two o’clock and that everyone should come properly turned out. And ten minutes before time, he would be there with his team-mates, all properly dressed. He was always thinking about the group. He was very humble and he didn’t like too much praise. He didn’t get nervous, a normal thing at that age. He didn’t get angry. I remember that once I blamed him for the behaviour of the team and, instead of giving me a dirty look, he thought the problem over and it never went further than the dressing room. In a footballing sense he was the same as now: rapid, sharp, skilled, very calm in front of goal and, above all, a sponge – he liked to learn.’
    Calvo had in his care a line-up that, apart from Torres, could boast players like Manu Del Moral, now at Getafe, Francisco Molinero, today at Real Mallorca, Fernando Usero, now at Elche, and Sergio Torrers who will later win the Under-16 European championship with Fernando. Elements that made for a great season. The key moment is the Nike Under-14 World Club Cup, which took place in May 1999 in Reggio Emilia, Italy. The Atlético Cadete junior team has won the right to play in the prestigious European tournament after first coming through a national competition. The participants are: Real Madrid, Roma, Reggiana (Italy), Belenenses (Portugal), LASK (Austria), Amiens (France), LASK (Austria), Amiens (France), Mouscron (Belgium), B 93 (Denmark) St Joseph’s Boys (Ireland), Servette (Switzerland), Symonds Green (England), KFUM Oslo (Norway), Etzella (Luxembourg), PSV (Netherlands), Hammarby (Sweden), Inter Turku (Finland), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Heart of Midlothian (Scotland).
    Before the final phase, they take part in a four-sided event with Porto, PSV and Andorra. ‘Against our near-neighbours, Andorra, we won 11-1 but we played poorly, without commitment, without bite,’ remembers Calvo. ‘So everyone, and Fernando in particular, was read the riot act before the final against PSV. They were told that this would not do and that they had to do better. He went out onto the pitch really wanting to show me that he didn’t merit what I’d said. So in one of the first moves, he swerved past five opponents, then went round the keeper, stopped the ball on the goal line, looked over to the dugout and blasted a shot into the goal.’
    In the quarter-finals at the Reggio Emilia tournament, the Atlético youngsters once again come up against PSV. The Dutch are dismissed with a decisive 3-0 scoreline. And Fernando repeated the same trick – in the first move of the match, he gets past three opponents, nutmegs the fourth and lobs the keeper to put them in the lead. The semi-final sees them up against Real Madrid, a Spanish city derby in Italy. A difficult contest against the title-holders, who had disposed of Borussia Dortmund in the quarter-finals. The 2-0 final scoreline leaves no doubts, however, as to the title pretensions of Atlético, who will now meet host side Reggiana in the final. Molinero scored in the eighth minute and it stays at 1-0 until the final whistle. It is the first important title – the first European Cup – that Fernando, the captain, holds aloft.
    He is chosen as the best player of the tournament, a recognition that, together with his goals and his movement off the ball, attracts the attention of several European clubs. ‘Arsenal made an offer to Fernando’s father and Barcelona and Milan were also keen. So much so that the club decided to offer him his first professional contract,’ explains Calvo. At fifteen