Torres Page 8

  But in the 55th minute, even Haas had to admit he was beaten: ‘It was a very similar move to that which won Euro 2008 for the national side also, as it happens, against Germany,’ recalled Iñaki Sáez, ‘Reyes, in our half of the pitch, passes to Iniesta almost on the halfway line. Andrés sees Torres and makes one of his trademark deep passes. Fernando wins the race for the ball with Crone and has just the German keeper to beat but fluffs the shot. The ball goes loose. Crone and Haas look at each other and don’t react. Torres sticks out his boot and nicks the goal. He knew how to keep going until the end. He knew how to keep on fighting until the end. That goal, exactly like the one last year against Germany, perfectly demonstrates his style,’ explained Saéz, ‘a striker who finishes the move with speed, force and intelligence.’

  ‘Torres … y Reyes’ read the red and black front page of Spanish sport daily, Marca, the next day, the first of many with El Niño centre stage (the headline played on the name Reyes, which also means ‘Kings’. The headline could therefore be read: ‘Torres … and we are Kings’). But Fernando, although excited by the two titles already won, doesn’t let it all go to his head and is already thinking of the next Under-20 World Cup. He’s hungry for victory. And this is how he responds to the praise he receives from Stielike after the match: ‘It’s always good to receive praise from one of the best managers in Europe but I still have to work on my game and improve so that this doesn’t turn into criticism.’

  Another example of the young man’s desire, commitment and determination.

  Chapter 10

  A special dedication

  Conversation with Barcelona and Spain midfielder, Andrés Iniesta

  An injury is keeping him out of the Barcelona team ahead of the final of Spain’s Copa del Rey (King’s Cup) against Atlético Bilbao. His side relies on the ‘hero of Stamford Bridge’ (where he scored the winning goal in stoppage time against Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final) because of his qualities as a ‘total footballer’. He can play in midfield or on the wing. His dribbling skills and vision of the game have made him a key player. But this time Iniesta will not be there. It will be several days before the Barcelona midfielder can run out onto a pitch again, but he is expecting to be fit for Rome in the Champions League final against Manchester United. Instead, he’s here at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper (a complex situated about 3 miles from Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium, which hosts training sessions from junior teams as well as the Barça first team) in the hands of the physiotherapists. The treatment is taking a while and in the meantime, the words of his manager, Pep Guardiola, come to mind:

  ‘He’s an example to everyone and above all for the next generation. I always tell them to look at him because he doesn’t wear earrings, he doesn’t change the colour of his hair and he doesn’t have any tattoos. But they all know he’s the best. He plays wherever you put him and he never complains, not even when he’s on the pitch for only twenty minutes. And he always trains well. Iniesta is priceless, tremendous.’

  In the beginning the Spanish press christened him Andresito because of his small size. Now he’s become Don Andrés and ‘The Sweet’, after ex-Barça manager Frank Rjikaard said ‘on the pitch he gives out sweets’ to describe his way of playing. They’ve called him ‘The Philosopher’s Stone’ of Barcelona. Opposing managers and team-mates consider him a player capable of deciding a match but he himself shuns praise. The physiotherapy session over, he arrives pale-faced and wearing a white jacket, accompanied by Sergi Noguera, the club press officer and introduces himself as follows:

  ‘I was born in Fuentealbilla, a small village in La Mancha, about 25 miles from Albacete. My father, José, was a building worker and my mother worked in a bar with my grandparents. I come from a modest family. I started to play for Albacete and came to Barcelona when I was twelve. In 2003, my parents and my sister moved here too. I consider myself a very normal and straightforward person. I like to do my work well and try to enjoy football.’

  His voice is frail, as is his general appearance, and his shyness is obvious. Andrés Iniesta Luján is not one for long chats. He does, though, gently begin to open up.

  Let’s go back to April 2001 and the Under-16 European championship and – I’m sorry to remind you of this – another injury …

  ‘It was against Germany. For them it was a must-win game and they came at us full-on. My marker was Mair, a huge, blond midfielder. They wanted to get the ball off us. In the end I had to leave the pitch. These things happen. Nothing more than that. The doctors suspected ruptured knee ligaments but luckily it was only a bruised shin bone and a sprained lateral ligament inside the knee. But my European championship finished there and I came home.’

  You left and your team-mates promised to dedicate the goals in the semi-final against Croatia to you.

  ‘Yes, Diego León (then in the Real Madrid youth team and now playing for English Championship side, Barnsley) called me the day before the match. He had replaced me and promised that both he and Torres would be wearing my shirt, the Number 8, under their national shirts. I was zapping between the channels at home in Barcelona but couldn’t find any station that was showing the match. I didn’t know that it wasn’t being broadcast in Spain, which was only showing the other semi-final between France and England. I switched off the TV but after the game, my team-mates called from the dressing room so I could share the win with them. I was touched by that and felt that they were really fond of me. They were a fantastic group of players who deserved to get to the final. They told me that Fernando, after scoring the first goal, went past everyone looking for the cameras to show me his dedication. He didn’t know that here (in Spain) I couldn’t see him. In any case, he told me not to worry because he would wear (the shirt) again in the final against France.

  And did you get to see the dedication this time?

  ‘Yes, of course. Fernando scored the penalty, lifted his shirt and underneath he was wearing a white T-shirt with the words: ‘Para tí, Andrés’ (‘For you, Andrés’). He dedicated the winning goal to me, he dedicated it only to me.’ (Iniesta repeats it over and over again, as if the words bring back the emotional power of that day.)

  Why was there this very special relationship?

  ‘From when we were sixteen, when we came together in that team, we got on really well. For me, Torres has always been a team-mate with whom I’ve had a great understanding. Each of us has been in our own particular (club) teams and got on with our lives but when we come together in the national side we’ve always understood each other perfectly. Above all on the pitch, because Fernando has always been a player who gets away from his marker well, who has speed. And from my position in the midfield, I’ve tried to take advantage of his skills to get the ball to him.’

  As you did for him in the Under-19 final in Oslo?

  ‘Yes, in Norway, I passed the ball to him but it was he who made the goal. Fernando did the difficult part.’ Modest as ever, Don Andrés.

  Iñaki Sáez, the manager of that Under-19 side said that you were the one who best understood Fernando?

  ‘Well, in a team there are always some footballers who understand each other better than others and that was the case then. But I have to say that for a midfielder to have a striker with Fernando’s qualities is fantastic. It makes everything so much easier.’

  What are Fernando’s skills?

  ‘He gets away from his marker very well, he sees space, he has a lot of strength and uses this strength so that when he comes to shoot, he does it coolly, with the certainty that he will score a lot of goals.’

  Which player does he most resemble?

  ‘Ronaldo, because of his strength, his bursts of power and for the finishing which Fernando has and which, in his day, Ronnie had too. Aside from that, each of them is different technically but in those specific respects, Fernando reminds me of him a lot.’

  And do you remember that, at that time, Fernando never stopped talking about Van Basten?

  ‘That’s
right, Marco Van Basten was one of his idols but I didn’t get many opportunities to see him play and I never came across him on the pitch.’

  Which is not the case with Torres, who’s also been your opponent?

  ‘Yes, we have come up against each other and with every kind of outcome. There’ve been matches that his team has won, matches that my team has won, and matches where he’s scored against us. He’s always a really difficult striker to keep under control.’

  Let’s move on from confrontations to the national side. How would you describe the experience of winning the Euro 2008 tournament playing in the same team? And how did you both get on together?

  ‘We got on really well and with all the others in the team. It was the same group of players that had won the qualifying matches. We experienced everything. We were criticised after the games with Ireland and Sweden but it could be that the hard time we had in qualifying actually worked in our favour to make us stronger. Once we got to Austria, we were really motivated as well as committed and united as a team. When you have that kind of combination, it brings victory a bit closer.’

  How did you feel when Fernando got the goal against Germany?

  ‘Completely elated, really happy. To have scored and to have scored in such an important final and to have put us ahead of Germany is no easy feat. We were then in reach of the title.’

  What do you talk about now when you meet up in the national side?

  ‘About everything really but especially how each of us is doing in our respective teams.’

  And what has Fernando told you about Liverpool?

  ‘He told me that to begin with it was a really big change and that there’s a huge passion for football over there. For a player, it’s really important to feel the support of the fans. I have to say that, at Anfield, where I’ve played, it’s incredible. It’s wonderful that the crowd is always 100 per cent behind their team and that makes it really difficult for any opponent to win there.’

  What do you think of the change he’s undergone since going to Liverpool?

  ‘It’s been hugely important. The Premier League is very different from La Liga and I think that the way of playing in England and, in particular, the style of Liverpool, is perfect for someone with Fernando’s skills. Also, one mustn’t forget that Torres had always been identified with Atléti. He had all that weight, being promoted to the first team at seventeen and having to keep going despite everything that piled up on top of him. There’s no doubt that was really hard. At Liverpool he doesn’t have any of that baggage.’

  And what do you think about the success he’s enjoying in England?

  ‘I think he deserves it. Fernando’s always had these qualities but with time he’s matured and acquired much more experience as well as improving his technique and now he’s one of the best strikers in the world. No doubt about it’

  And finally, do you see yourself lifting the World Cup with Fernando?

  ‘I really, really hope that we can get to that point and succeed in such an important tournament, one that Spain has never won. It’ll be very difficult but we’ll fight to reach the final and then see what happens.’

  Chapter 11

  A fairy tale

  Years later, remembering those days, he can’t think of any words to describe it other than ‘it seemed like a fairy tale’. It was hard to believe, ‘Because everything happened in such a short time, everything went so quickly, it was difficult to take in,’ says Fernando Torres. And he’s right: On 6 May 2001, he was proclaimed Under-16 European champion and on 27 May, exactly three weeks later, at just seventeen, he realised his dream, making his debut with the Atlético Madrid first team at the Vicente Calderón stadium. On 3 June, he scored his first goal for the senior team. And that’s not all, because in-between there was the call-up from Iñaki Sáez to the Under-18 national team, the final of the Spanish Under-19 league and even the news that he’d been sold to Valencia. Unbelievable indeed.

  Let’s take it from the beginning …

  Right after the success with the national side in Europe, it occurs to the Atlético directors that it would be a good idea to include the lad from Fuenlabrada in the first team. The day after the defeat against Murcia the atmosphere is noticeably tense. Hopes of immediately going back up to the first division following relegation are fading. The fans have had enough of everyone – the president, the club, the manager and the players. There are even some attacks against the perceived ‘culprits’. Maybe the Golden Boy of Spanish football, as he has been labelled after the European victory, is just what’s needed.

  Jesús Gil, the club president, thinks Torres could be used to calm the waters of a fan-base on the edge of a nervous breakdown. But he can’t do it straight away. Torres is committed to Iñaki’s Under-18 side. On 16 May, at Vila Real in the Portuguese region of Algarve, Spain play Portugal in the Under-18 European championship. The result is a 1-3 victory with a goal for Fernando Torres. Two weeks later it is possible. Paolo Futre, the Portuguese ex-Number 10, the striker who played seven seasons (1987–93 and then again in 1997–98 after a year with West Ham) in the red and white of Atlético before moving into the club offices as sporting director, picks up the phone. He calls Torres at home and asks the youngster to join up with the first team. The idea is that he should start to get himself used to the dressing room of the senior players, seeing that he will be with them for the 2001–02 pre-season. Torres, having finished his commitments with the national and junior teams, is preparing to go on holiday. At first, he doesn’t understand why Futre is calling him and can hardly believe the sporting director’s words. But he doesn’t let himself get carried away. On the contrary, he replies that if it’s just for training, he would prefer to go on holiday because after the injury and national team duty he hasn’t been able to rest even for a single day. Futre then lets drop the fleeting possibility of being on the bench and Fernando replies immediately with an enthusiastic ‘Yes’.

  On Wednesday, 23 May, Fernando trains with the first team, scores five goals and Futre tells Carlos García Cantarero – the manager who replaced Marcos Alonso for the last seven games of the season – to call him up for the next match. So, on Saturday, 26 May, the youngster went off with his idols. Those who, a week before, he had seen on the pitch from the stands at the Calderón, those whose autographs he had asked for, and those who were now alongside him as his team-mates. The youngster is a bundle of nerves. The atmosphere isn’t hostile but many look sceptically at the new arrival. ‘In the coach, they were making jokes about him. It was the way the squad welcomed him to the group and they were telling him, “you are a boy but one of ours”’, recalls Cantarero.

  Sunday 27 May is the big day. Unforgettable. The heat is unbearable, Atléti are playing at home against Leganés and drawing, with 35,000 in the Calderón whistling and bawling at the players who are seemingly incapable of getting a vital home win. Cantarero raises his hand towards the subs who are exercising to the side of the pitch. He indicates to Fernando José Torres Sanz. The lad runs towards his manager and gets himself changed in a flash. Meanwhile, on the pitch, Luque scores from outside the area to make it 1-0. It is the 54th minute. Cantarero sends Torres to warm-up along the edge of the pitch. His debut seems to have been postponed. But the manager knows that the fans want to see him on the pitch. All the papers have been talking about him, praising the new red-and-white hope. For several days the talk about the team’s fragile state or its endless economic problems stopped in order to concentrate on the lad from the junior team.

  In the 65th minute, Cantarero brings off Luque, the author of the goal and sends on the Number 35, Fernando Torres. The fans, placated by a positive scoreline, give him a warm welcome. In the minutes that remain, there is nothing special to report, but he’s made his debut. A member of the opposing team wants to exchange his shirt but he refuses. That shirt’s very important – he’s promised it to his brother, Israel, and it’ll be the only one like it being worn at the Estadio Carlos Belmonte
the following Sunday, 3 June 2001.

  Atlético have to win if they are going to keep alive their hopes of promotion but, against Albacete Balompié, things aren’t going well. Atléti are playing badly. An ugly game, marked by tension. Fear of losing haunts Cantarero’s men. The defence is fragile and exposed to the counter-attacking of their opponents. In attack, there are fleeting glimpses of Kiko, who has returned to the team, and of Cubillo. With seventeen minutes remaining, it’s a miracle the Madrid side isn’t losing. They create three half-chances on goal with Luque and Correa, while Albacete go close on several occasions. Cantarero plays the one card he has left at his disposal – the youngster. ‘We needed a goal. That’s why I put Fernando on,’ the manager will say later, rubbing his hands with glee for making the right move. Yes, because El Niño, cheered on by 5,000 Atlético fans who have gone down to Albacete to support the team, has just five minutes to change things round. He comes on in place of Kiko and goes immediately to take up his place in the attack. The first time he touches the ball, he is knocked flat by Arias, who earns a red card and a dismissal.