Torres: An Intimate Portrait of the Kid Who Became King

the fans, who have always supported the players right up until the final whistle, this time actually want a defeat because it would mean that the eternal enemy, Real Madrid, would not win the league. It’s a bad sign and demonstrates the fact that the team isn’t making every effort or, almost, that it prefers to bow down to its historic opponents rather than celebrate its own victory. And that’s not all. The crowd is already starting to leave the Calderón once Barcelona get their fourth. They abandon the stadium with their heads low, tired of always having their hopes dashed. The ones who stay behind whistle and shout at those on the pitch: ‘Mercenaries, you’re just mercenaries!’
    It’s the final straw. The situation that pushes Torres to take the decision he’s put off so many times. He’s getting out of Atlético. He’s disappointed, infuriated, impotent and envious of the winning Barça players, who make up a great team capable of dominating at any ground. He also wants to savour this. He no longer wants to be like a young Atlas, carrying the weight of a 104-year-old institution on his shoulders and which, in recent years, is only able to offer disappointment to its supporters.
    On 19 June 2007, the agreement between Liverpool and Atlético is signed and sealed. The only thing missing is Torres’ contract with the English side. In the end, El Niño will accept a lower annual salary (but there are add-ons once certain targets are achieved) in order to be able to leave.
    Sunday, 1 July: Fernando interrupts his holidays in Polynesia and returns to Madrid.
    Monday, 2 July: he flies to Liverpool after a meeting with Bahia International, the agency that has represented his interests for several years. Here, he spends around 40 hours holed-up in an apartment the club keeps for such situations. It’s forbidden to go outside, go for a walk, a meal, or anything. Liverpool want to keep the transfer completely secret.
    Tuesday, 3 July: from the apartment Fernando goes directly to a car parked in a space below the building, and from there to undergo a medical examination. He’s proclaimed fit and ready to join up. And then the last return flight between the city of the Beatles and the Spanish capital. El Niño, the most expensive signing in Liverpool’s history, the most expensive transfer of a Spanish footballer abroad since Gaizka Mendieta (sold in 2001 by Valencia to Lazio for 42 million Euros) first wants to say goodbye to the people he knows in Madrid. It’s only that night that a photographer gets a shot of Torres on his way to the airport …
    On 4 July, the Spanish press say their farewells to Fernando. Mundo Deportivo uses the verses of The Doors song, ‘The End’: ‘This is the end. Beautiful friend. This is the end. My only friend, the end.’ A sad farewell in Spain, a welcome full of hope in England. The desire of the English media is that The Kid becomes a legend at Anfield. For Torres, it’s the first day of a new life. A truly strange day. In the morning he leaves home and in the afternoon discovers his dreams have become reality.

Chapter 3
The culprit of his success
     
    Conversation with Liverpool manager, Rafa Benítez
    The gaffer is pretty tied up with a whole pile of things on his plate. He’s putting the finishing touches to the 2008–09 season, which finished a few days before, and beginning the next. As usual, he’ll have a summer of hard work. And this year even more, now that – thanks to a contract until 2014 – he has complete freedom regarding the buying and selling of players and in all sporting matters. He’ll have to take the right decisions and sign the right players to reinforce the Reds. To buy and sell with more than £30 million in his pocket. With this money, it’s not easy to bring in the best footballing components, but Rafa is used to challenges and overcoming the odds. He wants to do it as soon as possible so that the newcomers can make themselves at home in the pre-season and get familiar with how the club plays, in order to go for the league title, which they have not won since the 1989–90 season. It will be another ‘Rafalution’ – the Red revolution of Rafa.
    In Anfield they are used to this because, since arriving in 2004 from Valencia, the Madrid-born 49-year-old has changed Liverpool. He has brought it up to date. Over two seasons, he reorganised Melwood, changing the preparations, the training, the players’ diet and the way the team