Torres: An Intimate Portrait of the Kid Who Became King

Ciccio Graziani, Roberto Pruzzo and a young Carlo Ancelotti (now manager of Chelsea) were regarded as odds-on favourites. Playing at home, with the fans behind them, they had already proved their ability (through convincing and impressive football) to win the previous year’s Scudetto. It was a zonal style of playing, which was put into practice very effectively under the guidance of Swedish manager, ‘Il Barone’ Nils Liedholm – a renowned midfielder from the 1950s, who went on to manage a host of Italian sides over a 30-year period. And yet, despite being favourites, the score was 1-1 after 90 minutes (goals from Phil Neal and Pruzzo). After extra time, they finally bowed out to the English side 4-2 on penalties. Graeme Souness didn’t fail with his kick, the third in the sequence, high towards the angle of post and crossbar to the left of Roma keeper Franco Tancredi. Bruce Grobbelaar, the South African who came up with his ‘spaghetti legs’ routine (never forgotten by the Liverpool fans and successfully reprised by Jerzy Dudek 21 years later in the final against Ancelotti’s Milan) unnerved the unfortunate Graziani so much that he ended up shooting over the bar. The big-handled Cup was Liverpool’s. Michael Robinson – to whom the trophy had been entrusted – left it in a shop at Fiumicino Airport. Fortunately, he remembered it at the last moment and managed to get it back.
    It’s 25 years since that day. Souness is now 56, returning to the Stadio Olimpico – minus his distinctive moustache and thick curly hair – via the Sky Sports commentator’s box.
    He’ll be asked for his opinions on the Manchester United of Cristiano Ronaldo and the Barcelona of Lionel Messi, the teams contesting the Champions League title. Because of his intelligence and experience, Souness is someone well qualified to talk about Fernando Torres. And yet he says that he doesn’t have much in-depth knowledge about football. This admission leads to a chuckle from the Scot and the interview begins
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Let’s start with last season’s big Premier League clash between Manchester United and Liverpool. What do you think of the performance of Liverpool and particularly of Torres?
     
    ‘I have played in many games like that and we were the best team but we never had a result like that. For me, the turning point was when Torres outpaced Vidic (Manchester United defender, Nemanja Vidic). Vidic thought he was quite comfortable in his defensive position but Torres, with his electric pace, got there before him and from that moment on, Manchester United found it very difficult and Vidic, especially, was frightened to death by Torres’ pace.’

Despite this result, Manchester and Alex Ferguson went on to win the league again. It’s nineteen years since Liverpool won it. What more does Liverpool need to do to win it?
     
    ‘They’ve got closer this time but they rely too heavily on Steven Gerrard and Torres for goals. Manchester United have five or six very special players. Liverpool have two very special players. I think it’s all about quality at the end of the day. I think for any Liverpool player the concern is that Manchester United have a good group of young players coming through, where that is not the case at Liverpool. Liverpool will have to buy and I’m not sure they have the money. They will have to go out and buy another two or three very special players. But I’m not sure at Liverpool because they have to spend their money on a bigger stadium.
    ‘We’ll have to get a new stadium because we’ll just keep dropping further and further behind Manchester United and Arsenal. But a new stadium obviously costs a lot of money and that will mean we’ll not be buying new players. As a Liverpool supporter, looking forward, I’m still worried about that. Because the two people who now own Liverpool, what have they done? All they did was go to the bank and borrow money to buy Liverpool. The previous chairman, David Moores, could have done the same thing. The previous board could have done the same thing. Liverpool are no further forward now for me than they were before these two Americans came in.’

What is the main difference between your Liverpool, the ‘glorious’ Liverpool, and the current Liverpool?
     
    ‘Well, I just think we had better players. There’s no secret in football. I think this group of players is very good. The supporters are the best supporters in the country because they allow you to play