Fernando
Torres
Fernando
José Torres Sanz (Spanish
pronunciation: [ferˈnando
ˈtores]; born 20 March 1984), nicknamed El Niño (The Kid in Spanish),[4] is a Spanishfootballer who plays as a striker for Chelsea and the Spain national team. Torres started his
career with Atlético
Madrid, progressing through theiryouth system to the first team squad. He made his first
team debut in 2001 and finished his time at the club having scored 75 goals in
174 La Ligaappearances.
Prior to his La Liga debut, Torres played two seasons in the Segunda
División for
Atlético Madrid, making 40 appearances and scoring seven goals.
He joined Premier League club Liverpool in 2007, after signing for a club record
transfer fee. He marked his first season at Anfield by being Liverpool's first player since Robbie Fowler in the 1995–96 season to score more than 20 league goals in
a season. Torres became the fastest player in Liverpool history to score 50
league goals. He left the club in January 2011 to join Chelsea for a record
British transfer fee of £50 million, which made him the most expensive
Spanish player in history. In his first full season at Chelsea, he helped the
club win the FA Cup and the UEFA
Champions League.
Torres is a Spanish international and
made his debut against Portugal in 2003. He has since participated in five
major tournaments; UEFA
Euro 2004, the 2006
FIFA World Cup, UEFA
Euro 2008, the 2010
FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2012. Torres
did not score at Euro 2004, but netted three at the 2006 World Cup. He scored
twice at UEFA Euro 2008, including the winning goal for Spain in their 1–0 win
over Germany in the Final. He went
on to win the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 with Spain, scoring no goals in the
former, and scoring three goals in the latter to win the Golden Boot, as part
of the historic Spain side which won three consecutive major tournaments.
Early career
Born in Fuenlabrada, Community
of Madrid, Torres
became interested in football as a child and joined his first team, Parque
84, at the age of five.His father José Torres worked during Torres' childhood,
and his mother Flori Sanz traveled daily with him to training sessions. Hisgrandfather was not a passionate football fan, but took
pride in being an Atlético
Madrid supporter,
and Torres inherited his love for the club.
Torres started playing football as a goalkeeper, the position his
brother played in. When he
was seven years old, however, he started playing regularly as a striker in an indoor league for the neighborhood
club, Mario's Holland, using the
characters from the anime Captain Tsubasa as inspiration. Three years later, aged 10, he progressed to
an 11-side team, Rayo 13. He scored
55 goals in a season and was one of three Rayo 13 players to earn a trial with
Atlético. He impressed the scouts and joined the club's youth system at the age of 11 in 1995.
Personal life
Torres' parents are José and Flori,
and he has two older siblings, Israel (born 1977) and Maria Paz (born 1976). He married Olalla Domínguez Liste, with whom
he had been in a relationship since 2001, on 27 May 2009 in a private ceremony
with just two guests at the local town hall in El
Escorial, Madrid. They had
been an item for eight years and are thought to have met in the Galician
seaside town of Estorde, where Torres would
go on family holidays each year to escape the Spanish capital. The couple have
two children, a daughter, Nora, born on 8 July 2009 at the Hospital La
Rosaleda, in Santiago
de Compostela, and a son,
Leo, born on 6 December 2010 at Liverpool Women's Hospital, with
Torres missing the fixture against Aston Villa at Anfield.
In 2009, it was reported that Torres
has a personal fortune of £14 million. He features in the video for "Ya Nada
Volverá A Ser Como Antes" by Spanish pop rock group El Canto del Loco, whose
singer, Dani
Martín, shares a strong friendship with the footballer. He
makes a cameo appearance in the 2005 comedy film Torrente 3: El protector. In 2009, he released an autobiography
entitled Torres: El
Niño: My Story.
Liverpool
2007–08 season
Torres made his competitive debut for
Liverpool against Aston
Villa in a 2–1
win on 11 August 2007.[28] He made his first appearance in the UEFA
Champions League four days
past his first performance in a 1–0 victory over Toulouse, after
coming on as a 79th minute substitute.[29] His first Premier League goal came on his Anfield debut on 19 August 2007, in the 16th minute
in a 1–1 draw against Chelsea.[30] His first hat-trick came in a 4–2 victory over Reading in the League Cup on 25 September 2007, with all of his goals
coming in the second half.[31] His first goals in the Champions League came
on his third appearance in the competition as Liverpool beat Porto 4–1 on 28 November 2007, as he scored twice.[32]
He was named the Premier League Player of the Month for February 2008,[33] during which he scored four goals in four
appearances, including a hat-trick againstMiddlesbrough on 23 February 2008.[34] This hat-trick and another in a 4–0 victory
over West Ham
United on 5 March
2008 meant he became the first Liverpool player since Jack Balmer in November 1946 to score a hat-trick in
successive home matches.[35] Later in March, after he scored a 47th minute
header against Reading at Anfield, becoming the first Liverpool player since Robbie Fowler in the 1995–96 season
campaign to score 20 league goals in a season.[36] In April, he scored another Champions League
goal, this time against Arsenal in the quarter-final second leg, as Liverpool
advanced to the semi-final.[37] This goal took him onto 29 goals for the2007–08 season in
all competitions,[34] eclipsing Michael Owen's
personal record for goals in a season.[38] On 11 April 2008, it was announced Torres had
made a six-man shortlist for the PFA Players' Player of the Year award,[39] which was eventually won by Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester
United.[40] The Spanish international was also nominated
for the PFA Young Player of the Year Award, which was won by Cesc Fàbregas of Arsenal and was named in the PFA Team
of the Year.[40] In May, he finished second to Ronaldo for the FWA Footballer of the Year award.[41]
On 4 May 2008, Torres scored a 57th
minute winner against Manchester
City, which equalled the consecutive Anfield league goal
record of eight games set by Roger Hunt.[42] After scoring his 24th league goal in the
final game of the season, a 2–0 win against Tottenham
Hotspur, he set a new record for the most prolific foreign goal
scorer in a debut season in England, eclipsing Ruud van
Nistelrooy's 23 goals.[34][43] He ended the season in joint second place
with Emmanuel Adebayor in the race for the Premier League golden
boot.[44] Torres was subject to media speculation that
Chelsea were willing to pay £50 million to sign him but Torres responded
by saying it would be "many years" before he left Liverpool.[45][46] Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks also negated the idea of a transfer, saying
he would not allow Torres to leave the club at any price.[47]
2008–09 season
Torres made a scoring start to the 2008–09
Premier League season
with a 25 yard shot into the bottom right-hand corner away atSunderland, which
was the only goal in a 1–0 win on 16 August 2008.[48] He suffered a hamstring tear in a 0–0 draw against Aston Villa, which
would keep him out for two to three weeks.[49] Torres made his return in a 2–1 victory
against Marseille in the Champions League and went on to score
two goals in the Merseyside
derby against
Everton on 27 September 2008 to give Liverpool a 2–0 win.[50][51] He followed this up with another two goals
the following weekend against Manchester City in a 3–2 win away at the City of Manchester Stadium as Liverpool came back from a two goal
deficit.[52] The first of these was the thousandth
Liverpool goal to be scored in the Premier League.[53] Torres picked up a hamstring injury during a 2010
FIFA World Cup qualifier, meaning
he was likely to miss three games for Liverpool.[54] On 22 October 2008, Liverpool played Torres'
former club Atlético in the Champions League at the Vicente Calderón, but his
injury meant he missed out on the game.[55]The
Atlético president, Enrique Cerezo, had given him a VIP invitation to watch the game, but he declined
this to continue his rehabilitation from injury in Merseyside.[56] He was named in the FIFPro World XI team for the 2007–08 season on 27 October
2008.
Torres made his return for Liverpool
on 8 November 2008 after coming on as a 72nd minute substitute in a 3–0 victory
against West Bromwich Albion (West Brom).[58] He said he would be interested in returning
to former club Atlético eventually, saying "I don't know if I will retire
there, but I would like to go back and finish some things that are left to
do."[59] He was ruled out of action for two to three
weeks following Liverpool's 1–0 victory over Marseille in the Champions League
in November, where he picked up a hamstring strain,[60] which was later extended to at least four
weeks by specialists.[61] He was named on the shortlist for the FIFA World Player of the Year award in December,[62] and eventually came in third place behind
Ronaldo and Lionel
Messi.[63] Torres returned to action on 3 January 2009
as a substitute with a goal in the 2–0 win over Preston
North End; his first in the FA Cup.[64] He scored two late goals for Liverpool to
secure a 2–0 victory over Chelsea on 1 February 2009.[65] Despite having spent a year and a half at the
club, Torres was chosen as number 50 in The Times's list of "The
50 greatest Liverpool players", reinforcing the impact he had made at
Liverpool in such a short period of time.[66]
Torres faced his old rivals Real Madrid on 10 March 2009 in the Champions League last
16 and due to an ankle injury, he had a painkilling injection before the game
to enable him to play.[67] He scored the first goal of the game, which
ended as a 4–0 victory, meaning Liverpool progressed to the quarter-finals 5–0
on aggregate.[68] Four days later he lined up against
Manchester United at Old
Trafford and he
scored the equaliser in a game that finished as a 4–1 victory.[69] He was named in the PFA Team of the Year for
the second season running in April 2009.[70] Torres scored his 50th goal for Liverpool on
24 May 2009 against Tottenham on the final day of the 2008–09 season, which was his 84th appearance.[71]
2009–10 season
Following the end of the season, he
agreed a new contract with Liverpool,[72] which he signed on 14 August.[73] By signing this contract, Torres had the
option of a one-year extension after the contract's expiration in 2013.[74] Torres scored two goals in a 3–2 win over West
Ham United on 19
September 2009, a result that took Liverpool to third in the Premier League.[75] A week later he scored his first hat-trick of
the 2009–10
Premier League season in
a 6–1 victory over Hull
City at
Anfield.[76] He was named Premier League Player of the
Month for September, after scoring five goals during the month and becoming the
Premier League's top
goalscorer.[77] On 25 October 2009, he scored the first goal
in a 2–0 victory for Liverpool over Manchester United,[78] after which Benítez praised Torres'
performance, saying "We were waiting for that final pass. When it came we
knew he would score."[79] Torres was named in the FIFPro World XI for
the second successive season in December 2009.[80] His stoppage-time winning goal against Aston
Villa on 29 December 2009 made him the fastest Liverpool player ever to score
50 league goals.[81] He was substituted on 65 minutes in a 1–1
draw with Birmingham
City on 4 April
2010, which Benítez justified by saying Torres was "exhausted".[82] Torres made his last appearance of the season
scoring twice in a 4–1 victory over S.L.
Benfica in the
Europa League on 8 April,[83] and it was announced on 18 April 2010 that he
would miss the rest of the season to undergo knee surgery.[84] This meant that Torres finished the season
with 22 goals in 32 games in all competitions, finishing as Liverpool's top
scorer for the second time.[83]
2010–11 season
Following Roy Hodgson's
appointment as Liverpool manager he stated that Torres would not be sold by the
club, saying "He is not for sale and we don't welcome any offers for him.
We want to keep him."[85] Hodgson dismissed reports Torres was set to
leave Liverpool by saying "He has told us that he is looking forward to
Monday, to getting back to work and looking forward to playing for Liverpool
next season. That is what I know so other reports, I would suggest, are
erroneous."[86] Torres stated his commitment to Liverpool on
3 August, saying "My commitment and loyalty to the club and to the fans is
the same as it was on my first day when I signed."[87]
He made his first appearance of the 2010–11 season in the opening game, a 1–1 draw with
Arsenal on 14 August 2010, entering the game as a substitute in the 74th minute.[88] He scored his first goal of the season with
the winner in a 1–0 victory over West Brom on 29 August 2010,[89] which was his 50th goal at Anfield in all
competitions.[90] Torres scored the winning goal in a 2–1
victory at home to Blackburn
Rovers on 24
October 2010, which was his first goal since August.[91] He scored his final goals for Liverpool in a
3–0 win away at Wolverhampton Wanderers on 22 January 2011.
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