Fernando Torres was unstoppable

The first image that comes to mind to anyone who thinks of just one second to Fernando Torres is his, smiling, wearing the shirt of Atletico Madrid. It's instinctive: the Spanish striker started his career there and he virtually ended it there, excluding the last year in Japan where, in the end, El Niño decided to do harakiri and kill his career as a soccer player.

"I didn't enjoy it anymore", and if a child doesn't have fun anymore it is useless to continue. Because he has always been this way, niño, the childish face that does not allow to distinguish his first period in Madrid from his return, if it were not for the shirts that change, together with the fashion and therefore the haircut.

 

 

Torres was among the best strikers in the world. Perhaps for one extraordinary season, but it really was. And if it is true that when you think of him you imagine him with the shirt of Atletico Madrid, it is equally true that he has given the best of himself with Liverpool.

 

How Torres arrived at Liverpool

Until his arrival at Anfield, Torres had never scored so much. In 2007, the year of his move to Liverpool, he was only 23 years old and had long since become captain of Atletico Madrid, but his skills as a goleador had not yet been expressed to the maximum.

Top scorer of his team for five consecutive seasons (from 2003 to 2007), yes, but without ever reaching 20 league goals (in the last two seasons he stopped at 13 and 14 goals respectively).

The leadership of the Reds, however, with the approval of Benitez decided to invest 26.5 million in total to bring it into the Premier League. A figure that today does not cause a sensation, but which at the time was decidedly high.

In one of his first Liverpool player interviews, Torres said he wanted to settle in as quickly as possible: "I think the English league fits my characteristics well." Rafa Benitez also agreed: "He has experience: he played at the age of 17, he can withstand the pressure. He already knows he will be an important player for us". They were both right.

 

The influence of Benitez and English football

Just Benitez will be decisive in the growth of the Spanish player, who with the Liverpool shirt will certainly touch the highest peaks of his club career, without paradoxically winning anything.

As Torres himself admits, the coach's influence was decisive: "He told me to go to the gym, because if I had become stronger physically I would have had more chance of getting on the ball first." Benitez was not condescending, he always demanded more from his player, and at a compliment he preferred a punch, a stimulus: “When I scored two or three goals, he told me that I had played badly because I had not helped the team behind. Some players may not tolerate such an attitude, but I need this kind of personality a lot. "

Not only Benitez, though: the one between Torres and English football was a relationship that went even beyond the coach, who overcame gravitational currents, space and light to never let the child inside Torres ever grow old. A special attacker, certainly.

And English football was also special, which suited him well as the best of ceremonial clothes: Torres was always ready for big occasions, wore shoes and red jersey and drove all the English defenses crazy.
This is because football in the Premier League was different from the Liga, faster, more dynamic, less construction and more direct attacks. "It seemed made for me" says Torres. Impossible to blame him, reviewing some of the best goals scored in his first vintage in red.

 

5 goals from that memorable season

A couple of numbers: 24 goals scored in the Premier League debut season (beat the record by Van Nistelrooy, who had stopped at 23), 33 goals in total in a single season with the Reds shirt (beat the record of Owen, who had stopped at 28). A wonderful vintage, thanks to which he also managed to get on the Golden Ball podium, finishing third behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi. In addition, in February 2009, he was included by the Times in the ranking of the 50 most important players in Liverpool's history.

Nothing more than goals can best describe that season, which was followed by other good years, but not as much as that of 2007-2008, which, among other things, ended Torres raising his first trophy with the senior national team. From the red of Liverpool to the red of Spain, passing through memorable goals that made the fans enjoy and the commentators go crazy.

 

#1 Field eater vs Chelsea

Enlightening launch with the exterior from Gerrard, Torres shoots deep and devours portions of the field like burgers in a Man vs Food contest. And instead it was Torres vs Chelsea, another type of show.

#2 Bomb vs Middlesbrough

Look at him here: his team is down of a goal, he seems about to fall but does not give up, gets up and pounces again on the ball, and then hurls it under the cross with power and precision.

#3 Fake move vs Newcastle

Featuring devastating with Gerrard: the Spaniard is side by side with English, which in turn serves him with the tachometer; at that point, in Torres "enough" a fake move to get rid of the goalkeeper. Instinct, technique, intuition: there is everything.

#4 Soft touch vs Bolton

50% of the goal in this case is the result of the perfect movement with which Torres cuts the opponent's defense, conquering meters of field vertically and then mocking the goalkeeper with a touch under the sweetest and ruthless. All this, once again, on an assist from Gerrard.

#5 Against Derby County's entire defense

In such a situation, 90% of the attackers would seek the help of their comrades to enter the penalty area. Torres instead simply decides to challenge everyone, overcoming them, mocking them, scoring. With incredible strength in the legs. With an unstoppable progression.

Here is how Torres was with the Liverpool shirt: unstoppable. The commentators also pointed out that, not surprisingly, they called it 'unstoppable'. Sounds good, in English. As good as Torres played in the Premier League. In England is used the same term, among other things, to "suonare" and "giocare". All so simple, like a song. All so simple, like Torres' first year at Liverpool.

"Tutto sembra mosso a caso
non decido niente
Tutto è così bello che non so se durerà
Resto qui a guardarlo
mentre brucia lentamente
Quanta luce fa"