Torres: An Intimate Portrait of the Kid Who Became King

He’s got a player who thinks about the game.’
    GB: ‘Very important, because Benítez is a real pain. He succeeds in improving a player through a regimen of repetition, repetition, repetition – of ideas and exercises. Torres is absolutely clear on this. He recognises the tremendous work of his manager. For sure, Luis Aragonés had more influence on his career and taught him a lot when he was young but it’s much more difficult to learn when you’re already an international and been captain of your team. It’s really hard to learn at this stage – at least if you haven’t come across Benítez.’

And he’s also done good psychological work with him …
     
    SL: ‘Without any doubt. Fernando Torres at Liverpool is a different psychological player to the one he was at Atlético Madrid. Torres felt that at Madrid all the pressure, all the blame and all the responsibility was his. At Liverpool, other players have it. El Niño has become an idol at Liverpool and the fans really love him. But they don’t expect him to do everything on his own. At Atlético Madrid, the fans expected that. And also at Atlético Madrid, there is fatalism while at Liverpool there’s hope.’
    GB: ‘I don’t think psychology is Benítez’s greatest strength. Psychology comes from confidence and confidence from improvement. No, Benítez isn’t a manager who tells Torres every day that ‘you are the best’, but Torres sees it and Torres isn’t someone who lacks confidence. He finds himself in a style of football that suits him perfectly, with a team that’s ready to play for him, with long balls, taking advantage of his speed and getting behind the defence. The psychology comes of its own accord.’

What about the image of Fernando in the English media?
     
    SL: ‘Right now, the image is of a player who is possibly the best striker in Europe, a phenomenally good footballer. He’s an athlete. He’s fast, he’s strong, he’s powerful. He looks like a baby in his face but he’s a really strong man. An aspect that people don’t talk about often enough is his intelligence. He’s very bright, he’s willing to learn, he listens to Rafa Benítez, he listens to his coaches, he does what he’s told to do and he’s very committed. He is much more humble than people sometimes think. He’s a very sensible, intelligent individual. His defects? Right now I don’t think he has a defect. OK, he needs to be better with his left foot, he needs fewer injuries, but maybe we are asking too much. What we’re seeing now at Liverpool is that Torres is the perfect player for the perfect team. For example, Fernando Torres at Barcelona would not be the same player because Fernando Torres wants space in front of him, he wants to be able to run into gaps. If you play with a team like Barcelona – touch-touch, pass-pass – it’s intricate, it’s clever, it’s angles. It’s much harder for Torres. Even when there are criticisms, they are positive as well. One criticism of Liverpool is that they need more players like Fernando Torres.’
    GB: ‘In England, you don’t have to do very much to be a big star. If you have something that others don’t, then you’re big. For example, Cesc (Fabregas) is young – in the Arsenal team he’s a leader, he knows what to do with the ball, he’s the player who controls the midfield, who makes the perfect pass and he’s a star. The same thing’s happened to Torres. He scores, he begins to notch up goals one after the other, and now he’s the best striker in the world. But in reality, he isn’t. With all respect and the great affection I have for him – I’ve also talked about it with him – he is one of the greatest but he still has to improve. The truth is that in England they know very well how to sell their own, or rather, how to sell the players that play in their league. If Torres had the same statistics in La Liga in Spain, he wouldn’t be the best in the world. No, here they’re very good at selling. And they’re amazed when Cesc isn’t playing for the Spanish national side. “Come on, that can’t be right,” they tell you in England. With this in mind, it’s interesting the interpretation that the English media put on the Euro 2008 final when, because of Villa’s misfortune, Cesc was selected and Torres scored the winning goal. Here, they say they won because these two were selected and because they were playing in their favourite positions.’

What does Fernando Torres