Torres: An Intimate Portrait of the Kid Who Became King

years of age, Torres signs the contract. It’s not worth as much as Arsenal were offering but he’s happy. He is playing for the team he loves. Football, for him, begins to be more than just a hobby, even if he does not yet realise that it will be his life and his profession. That is still some years ahead.
    Meanwhile, he moves up from the
Cadete
team to the
Juvenil
– another way of saying he jumped three years in one go. He meets Abraham García – the last coach he would have in the junior teams and a key figure in his career development – and Ignacio Aznar Torrente, better known as ‘Nacho’, with whom he formed an attacking strike duo. ‘We understood each other well. We knew, without speaking, where the other was on the pitch at any given moment,’ recalls Aznar, who today plays at Club Deportivos Leganés in Group II of the Spanish Second Division B. ‘Fer was a model of power, ability to score with headers, movement and finishing in front of goal. We became a pair capable of scoring 70 goals a season. Abraham demanded a lot from us. He pushed us, him and me. He was never satisfied. He knew that Fernando and I could go further.’
    One match that Nacho has not forgotten is the final of the international tournament, Citta di Rieti, in May 2000. Fernando says one of his legs is hurting but García knows that his presence on the pitch is important. ‘Get out there and win this final. If not, you’re not going to get anywhere,’ he tells them. Fernando plays and scores the goal that sets them on their way. Lazio are swept aside 5-0 and Atlético win another prestigious trophy – as well as the junior league championship a few months later. But the young striker in red and white is then hit by a setback. It happens on 9 August at Boadilla, while training with a team made up of players from the Spanish third division. Fernando clashes with a central defender and collapses. Damaged knee ligaments is the grim verdict. A really bad-looking injury. After the operation, the doctors say it will be eight to 10 months before he can play again. Team-mate José Verdú Toché (now with Numancia), who suffers the same injury at the same time, returns to football eleven months later, in May 2001. Fernando Torres, on the other hand, thanks to his determination and exceptional physical condition, is already back on the pitch in December 2000.
    The year to come will bring a huge amount of satisfaction as well as a major disappointment.

Chapter 8
A model footballer
     
    Conversation with Atlético de Madrid junior team coach, Abraham García
    There is more activity than usual at the Ciudad Deportiva de Majadahonda (Majadahonda Sports City) in Cerro del Espino, about twelve miles from Madrid city centre. Abel Resino, the new manager of Atlético Madrid (who replaced the Mexican, Javier Aguirre), is directing his first training session. Television crews, zoom lenses and all eyes are focused on the playing area, where the first team is being put through its paces. Journalists are commentating and taking notes on the team set-up, while fans and curious bystanders watch with interest. They are trying to work out what the ex-Atlético goalkeeper (whose European tally for clean sheets – 1,275 minutes set in 1990–91 – was beaten earlier this year by Manchester United’s Edwin Van de Sar) is telling his new players.
    Everyone has their back turned to the green rectangle where Atlético B is training or, to be more precise, where the junior team – made up of seventeen- to eighteen-year-olds – is playing a match. Green bibs against red vests. On the edge of the pitch is the manager, Abraham García, arms folded across his chest, watching how his charges are developing. Every now and then, he shouts an instruction to Cedric, a young midfielder born in Kinshasa, or to striker Didí, who is from Barcelona. Ten minutes after the training is over, the youngsters all pile out. Abraham comes over to the boundary fence and arranges to meet at the dressing room exit. First, there is the customary banter with his young players and then a shower to freshen up and get warm again. Despite the spring sky, it is still cold at Cerro del Espino.
    For 35-year-old Abraham, built more like a rugby prop forward than a midfielder, football runs in the family. His father, ‘Juanjo’ García, who died a few years ago, was manager of Castilla, Real Madrid’s second team and took the side to a Copa del Rey (King’s Cup) final against the