Torres: An Intimate Portrait of the Kid Who Became King

have met him recently and he’s very happy there. His father told me that as well,’ confirms Camacho. And he explains: ‘I was sure he was going to be successful because there they play in the same style as Fernando.’
    They remember the time of Jesús Gil, someone points out that, with him, Torres never had problems and that, in fact, he was always protected by Gil. And he was opposed to the sale of his crown jewel against the opinion of many who thought that the player was at the top of his game and therefore should be sold before his value declined. Camacho goes back in time to remember the shy boy, who, when playing with
Mario’s Holanda
, succeeded in filling the stadium. He talks about Torres’ family in complimentary terms.
    Roldán comes back to the present, to 29 June 2008, when the bar was packed to the rafters and nobody from the
Peña
or from the neighbourhood wanted to miss El Niño’s final: ‘We were all convinced that he was going to score that day. It’s a shame’, adds Pasqual, ‘that he never got to play at the Calderón, but we’re confident that he’ll come back one day to finish his career here, where he started, where people still think so much of him.’ The conversation ends. The television is showing the start of Spain v England and El Niño is on the pitch.

Chapter 25
A danger
     
    Conversation with Liverpool and Spain defender, Álvaro Arbeloa
    The shirt is red, but over the part which covers the heart is the badge of the Spanish national team, the Real Federación Española de Fútbol (Royal Spanish Football Federation). Sitting on the steps that lead to the residential area of the Federation’s Ciudad del Fútbol de Las Rozas training complex, 12 miles from the centre of Madrid, the former Real Madrid and Deportivo La Coruña player – currently Liverpool’s Number 17 – chats away happily. The weather is wonderful – a deep-blue sky without a cloud in sight, and on the horizon, the tops of the Sierra mountains still covered with a light sprinkling of snow, while the sun beats down with almost summer-like strength.
    ‘At Liverpool, we dream of weather like this. It only happens a few times a year,’ laughs Spain’s Number 26 from the western city of Salamanca. The training session for the national side is scheduled to take place in the late afternoon. Before that there is time to ask a few questions.

Does the team feel different when Torres isn’t there, like in the match with Atlético?
     
    ‘Yes, a lot. It’s normal because we don’t have a squad like Manchester United. If they don’t have Rooney, they can bring on Tévez, if they don’t have Tévez, they can use Berbatov. We have Fernando, who is the best in the world and when he is missing, it shows. When he’s there, upfront, you know that he is going to ‘create danger’ at any moment because his presence alone creates insecurity and Kuyt, Riera and Steve take advantage of that. When he’s on the pitch, he gives us total confidence.’

You were in the team for the Liverpool-Chelsea match on 1 February 2009. How do you remember that game?
     
    ‘It was very important, above all because we’d just come from four consecutive draws. We weren’t in a good situation; we’d lost the league leadership and second place as well. If we didn’t beat the Blues we’d be several points adrift of Manchester United. We were better than them but the ball just wasn’t hitting the back of the net. Luckily, in the end, came the two goals from Torres.’

It was an important match for him as well, wasn’t it?
     
    ‘Fernando was coming back from injury. It had been months since he’d scored and, with just a few minutes remaining, he scored the first and then, in extra time, got the second. Well, everyone knows that for us, Fernando is hugely important.’

How would you describe Torres, seen from behind, from the Reds’ defence?
     
    ‘A danger, absolutely. I was lucky to play against him with Deportivo a few weeks before I left for Anfield. Fernando and I were talking about it just the other day.’

Lucky or unlucky?
     
    ‘I think that one is always lucky to play against great players. Well, OK, as long as they don’t make it too bad for you. But the truth is that Fernando is a spectacular striker – he never gives a ball up for lost; physically, he is a phenomenon, he has incredible power and, above all, enormous confidence in himself, which makes him one of the best in the world, if not the