Torres: An Intimate Portrait of the Kid Who Became King

Liverpool. If I’m really honest, when he was playing here, I didn’t like him very much.’

Why?
     
    ‘One could see that he had great potential but he was … a bit soft. He was a player without any “bite” – sporting-wise, you understand? He was a player who worked well with the ball but he went through patches, he wasn’t always at the heart of the game, he wasn’t involved, he wasn’t talking with his team-mates. When I came up against him again in the national team, in the friendly with Spain in March 2008, one could already see the difference. Then with Liverpool, in both the home and away legs, I saw a completely different player.’

In what sense?
     
    ‘Mentally, in the way he attacked defenders, in the way he spoke with team-mates. He’s a much stronger player. Before, when you knocked against him, he gave way. Now, that’s difficult, because mentally he’s got much stronger.’

How do you explain this change?
     
    ‘It happened to me. I was at Inter and I wasn’t able to train any more or find the right kind of enjoyment or motivation to go out and play. I went to Juve and within two days I changed completely. I met up again with my friends, my team-mates, in a more family-like atmosphere. I changed the chip – so much so, that in my first year with the
bianconeri
(Juventus) I played 38 games out of 38 and only picked up one yellow card. These are things that happen to a player … Click – you regain your confidence and that of your team-mates and the fans chant your name. I think the same thing has happened to Torres. At Atlético he had all the weight of the team on him, knowing that if he made a mistake and they lost the match, he would be blamed. Going to Liverpool, he is a foreigner, he’s more relaxed, he scores one goal, two, then three … The fans go crazy about him and everything becomes easy. Yes, going to Liverpool has really done him a lot of good.’

He’s benefited from the Benítez system …
     
    ‘He’s benefited, for sure, because for Torres it’s much better to play as a lone striker – he can play in various positions along the line of attack. He suffers when he has another striker playing up high alongside him. He’s not a footballer who likes one-twos much. He should play on his own upfront, with Gerrard behind and Kuyt on the right. For him that’s the ideal. But of course English football for him is definitely more rewarding. Here in Spain, it works as one against one, little touches, possession. Torres on the other hand, is a horse that needs space, that needs to run. The more he runs the happier he is and the more his skills come to the fore. The same thing is happening in the national side. We talk a lot about Spain playing an attractive kind of football, putting great value on possession of the ball, it’s true. That’s because the midfield has people like Iniesta, Xavi and Senna – all top-quality players. But if we look again at the goals they scored in Euro 2008, a lot of them were made on the counter-attack – two against Russia, one against Sweden and not forgetting that one of Torres in the final. When I saw the two German defenders, Lahm and Metzelder, covering the whole pitch – well, quite honestly, I could see what would happen, because when there is space, Torres is going to have a field day. Maybe in a tight area, he’s going to have some difficulty but when he can run and use his strength and speed to its maximum potential, you’re in trouble.’

Since we’re on the subject of Italy-Spain, the quarter-final of Euro 2008 was decisive in determining Spain’s destiny …
     
    ‘It was a strange match with a peculiar atmosphere. I remember saying “Be careful”, that whoever goes through from this tie will win the championship. Because of the two teams’ mental strengths and their skills on the pitch, it was the most finely balanced of the quarter-finals. It was an encounter where we let them take the game, as always, because we are a team that gives the ball to the opposition. But the best chances fell to us. As for them, yes, they had plenty of possession and they made lots of attempts on goal but they were all off-target. Torres and Villa were invisible in that game. Why? Because we conceded very little space to the strikers and with a pair like Torres and Villa, who are good on the counter-attack, if you limit the depth of area in which they can operate, it makes it much more difficult for them.’

Apart from not