Fernando José Torres Sanz

First Name: Fernando José
Surnames: Torres Sanz



DOB: 20-03-1984
Place of Birth: Madrid
Height: 1.86 m
Weight: 78 Kg
Current Team: Atlético de Madrid
Position: Forward
Previous Teams: Junior levels Atlético de Madrid

Profile:
The number one exponent of elegant football in the present day.

Pace is one of Fernando Torres, most outstanding attributes, but by no means the only aspect of his game: as a player he is also defined by selflessness, guts, ambition and a will to win.

Right-sided but with excellent control with either foot when dribbling or shooting, good in the air, deadly in front of goal, thanks to his exceptional level of preparation Fernando Torres is a player who, in the words of current Spanish national coach Luis Aragones “never scores two goals the same”. We have before us one of the very top players in the world of soccer.


Childhood (from birth to his first official match)

1984
I was born on the 20th of March 1984. According to what I’m told my arrival was just what my parents, Flori and Jose, needed to calm their nerves, as my brother and sister, Israel and Mari Paz, who were seven and eight respectively, were a pair of tearaways whereas I was always pretty well-behaved, in the house at least.

1985
I can’t tell you much about my first year of life because I don’t remember anything, and my family haven’t told me anything interesting about it either but I imagine I crawled about and cried a lot like all kids at that age.

1986
When I was only two I started to kick my brother’s ball around the house, and that was my first contact with football. Around then another of my hobbies was throwing things out of the window. Unluckily, one day I threw a model truck, which was full of money, out into the street. That story is pretty well known, but I think it deserves a mention in my biography, because of the difficult time it caused for my parents. It ended up as just a family anecdote, though.

1987
At three years old I was just like my older brother. He’s seven years older than me and has always been, in some ways still is, the mirror that I look in to see myself. On the other hand my sister Mari Paz is the only one who has always let me get away with everything. In her eyes I’m still the little boy I was then, and she still treats me as if I was.

1988
At four years old I started to become really interested in football. I remember my dad played with me whenever he could, especially when we were in Gastrar, a little village in Galicia where we went for our holidays. The games basically consisted of kicking a ball around, but at that point, that was the limit of my footballing aspirations.

1989
I was five when I joined my first team, Parque 84. There was a footballathon organized in my neighbourhood sports centre, in Fuenlabrada, the area I grew up in. The matches consisted of 15 or 20 kids running around after a ball, really crazy! Nonetheless, for a kid like me at that age it was a really big deal. I was in the team for two days, that is to say for as long as the footballathon lasted. Like any other five-year-old kid, besides playing football I played other things, like bottletops, marbles, and rough games like el culete and gol alemán, among others. In nursery school I had my first girlfriend- I can’t remember her name! And they say your first love is the one that leaves a mark.

1990
From when I was six football became really important- thanks to Oliver and Benji on TV! It was a cartoon series, really good. The story was about a group of lads who start by playing football for fun, and end up as professionals. After the show me and my brother would go out and play football. I liked to imagine I was a professional footballer like the kids in the series. I played in goal until one day I got a couple of teeth knocked out by the ball and decided that my career between the sticks was finished. Great save, though.

I’ve got great memories of my childhood, but one in particular is really important: chatting with my Grandad about Atleti. My Grandad was a strange case in terms of football, the truth is football hardly interested him, but nonetheless he was passionate when it came to Atleti. The image is still fresh in my mind of my Grandad in front of me, talking without stopping, trying to get across to me the importance of being an Atletico de Madrid fan, and as witness to those wonderful talks have a plate, with his name and the Atletico badge. That plate is the best trophy I’ve got.

1991
Once I’d got over my goalkeeper phase I started to play as a forward. In that period my neighbourhood café organized a team, called ‘Mario’s Holland’. It was the second team I played in, and I got in even though I was younger than the league limit.

I played indoor football for three years, in a league, with a team strip and everything, and my dream of becoming a footballer really began to develop. Thanks to this experience I got to know what it meant to be in a team, and to have team-mates, both of which have been really important for my development as a person and as a player.

As I said before, every summer I went to Gastrar with my family. It was a big family gathering, my grandparents, uncles and aunties, cousins and of course me and my brothers were all there- I was the youngest of all, the baby. Obviously I always had to tag along, but I didn’t mind because you could keep me amused any old how in those days. For the first seven years of my life, my family, my friends, football and summers in Gastrar were the I only things I needed to be happy.

1992
Just after I turned eight my parents bought a house in Estorde, in Galicia. Although at first this might not seem so important, it turned out to be because it was there that I met the girl who ended up being my girlfriend, Olalla. Apart from that, that time in my life was important because I made friends with a group of people who are still my friends today.

1993
I was just a nine-year-old kid when I first visited the Atletico de Madrid trophy room. I remember my dad didn’t want to tell me where we were going, I don’t know which of us was more excited: him, dying to show me, or me, waiting for the big surprise. When we got there you still couldn’t say, because we both loved it.

I’d seen photos of the trophies, but I’d never seen them close up, I’d never touched them and that day I did both, and luckily since then I’ve had my hands on on or two more…. All my life I’d heard my family talk about them, the World Club Cup, the League trophies, the Cups that Atleti had won, and that day I got to see what I’d always imagined.

Atlético de Madrid (In the clubs youth teams)

1994
When I was ten I played in my first eleven-a-side team, Rayo 13. That was a good year for me. The three best players of the season were given the opportunity to try out with Atletico- I scored 55 goals that year, and thanks to that I was one of the players chosen. On the day of the trial I was really excited, dying to get out on the pitch and taste the real world. And things turned out just the way I’d hoped.

1995
I joined Atletico de Madrid at the age of eleven, that’s the lowest age team there. My coach was Manolo Rangel. I have especially fond memories of that time, thanks to Manolo. Training was a game, and the matches were fun, that was the part of my life when I most enjoyed playing football.

Shortly after joining the team we went on a trip to Belgium, it was my first away trip, I was overwhelmed. The hotel, my team-mates, everything about that trip was amazing. I was living my dream, or at least that’s how it seemed to me back then.

When you belong to a club like Atletico de Madrid at that age you live for it, it’s indescribably exciting, although I couldn’t let myself forget that football was still just a hobby for me. For my family it was a nightmare: I say a nightmare because of the effort the four of them put in so as I could become a footballer- although that wasn’t the goal then because no one knew, not one us of even imagined I’d get to where I am today.

My dad had to leave work in the afternoons to take me to training in Orcasitas, and then go back to work in Fuenlabrada by train, other times my mother took me to the training ground on the bus and on the train, whether it was raining or if it was baking hot she’d always take me. She used to say ‘if you ever get tired you don’t have to go anymore, don’t feel obliged to keep on with the football.’ But I never got tired of it. My brother and sister had to take me to training sometimes, too. While I was playing, they’d be in the stands studying, in the different grounds they had to take me to.

Without my family I never would have got into the first team, I never would have even been a footballer.

1996
My first year in the junior team, Junior B to be precise, twelve years old, the games were more difficult, the other teams had players that were older than us, which made a difference. But even so, although we didn’t win the league we finished in a good position in the table. We had the same group of players as the year before, apart from six or seven lads who’d fallen by the wayside. I spent every day playing football or studying, it was a bit hard going to be honest, but it was worth it in the end.

1997
I began the Junior A season at 13. People from outside Madrid joined the team. I remember players like Manu, Molinero and Sergio Torres, who won the European under-16 championship with me. Football was still a past-time for me, but I knew what it meant to be part of an organisation like Atletico de Madrid, and I was 13.

It was my third year of football with Atleti. My arrival coincided with the double year, and that made me even more proud to be part of the club. In just a handful of years I’ve lived through the double, relegation, promotion, happiness and disappointment as a player and a fan…I’ve seen people of all age crying in the stands, I’ve even seen the fans leave the ground happy even though the team have lost!

They’re happy to have seen Atleti, their team. It’s different from with teams like Barcelona or Real Madrid, whose fans are only interested in winning, Atleti fans follow their feelings more than the results, we like to enjoy ourselves, have a good time every Sunday, then if you win, all the better. That’s the way of thinking I got from my Granddad, the Atletico way.

1998
At cadet level I had a change of coach, Pedro Calvo was in charge of the team. I won my first important title with Pedro, and I want to thank him for his help and advice both when I was in his side, and afterwards.

I played for a year at cadet level, that was the year we played two Nike Cup tournaments, at domestic and European level. All the best teams were at those tournaments: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Manchester United, Juventus…, the standard was much higher than I’d been used to up to that point. And even so we won.

Those two trophies form part of the successful record of Atletico de Madrid junior football, and if that wasn’t enough I was voted Junior Player of the Year. I couldn’t believe what was happening, I’d gone, in such a short time, from playing with a bunch of mates in Rayo 13, to being the best European player in my age-group. I was still only fourteen years old.

1999
At fifteen I signed my first contract with Atletico de Madrid. I would have signed for life. When I was a kid and we played bottletops I was always Atleti, playing football with my mates I always imagined I was an Atleti player, and now I really was one, I was part of the club, I was an Atletico de Madrid player.

At cadet age I played my first season with the youth team and took part in the National League. The group I was in was made up of cadet level players who had stood out the year before and first year youth team players, with the aim of putting together a strong side for the Honour Division. It was then I met the coach who has been most important for my career, Abraham Garcia, who I really hope and believe will go far.

The First Team (Professional Football and the National Team)

2000
At sixteen I began the season playing in the Honour Division and I finished it in the first team. That season was amazing, but from the way it started nobody would have guessed how well it would end. Thanks to a cracked shinbone, and after an operation to put it right, I didn’t start playing until December.

2001
Things started to pick up in February when I won the Algarve Tournament with the National under-16s, in the Algarve. I really wanted to play in the under-16s European Championship which was to be held in England the following May, but it wasn’t going to be easy, me having been injured and not having taken part in the qualifiers. In the end Juan Santiesteban and Armando Ufarte gave me the chance to play.

Right after turning sixteen I played in and won the European under-16 championship. I was top scorer and chosen as Player of the Tournament, the same as had happened at cadet level. One of the most noticeable effects of that tournament was that when I got back to Madrid people would stop me in the street. Nothing like that had ever happened to me before.

After the under-16s championship I played a match with the under-18s, and I also played in the final of the Youth Champions Cup. A few days later Futre called me to tell me I was going to train with the first team, as I was going to be involved in the pre-season preparation and I might as well get integrated into the set-up. That was a Tuesday; the Wednesday I went to training, the Saturday I was in the squad and on Sunday I made my debut in El Calderon against Leganes- the 27th of May 2001.

The following week I scored my first goal, against Albacete, and a few weeks later I suffered my first great professional disappointment when we missed out on promotion to the First Division, on goal difference, after the game against Getafe.

That year I got to know all about success and failure. For me personally it had been a great season, but as a team we had not accomplished our objective, and the disappointment was intense. I’d been in the first team for a month and I’d already been through things which some footballers might not experience in their whole career. And my career had only just begun.

In November I played in the under-17 World Cup, in Trinidad and Tobago. It wasn’t a good experience as far as results on the pitch are concerned, but nonetheless it helped me grow professionally. I began the new season with the first team.

2002
That year we achieved promotion a few weeks before the end of the season, and despite not having had a great year personally, I was very happy that we had reached our goal. Two years previous the club had incurred a great debt to the fans, and we’d paid it back by getting back to the place we never should have left in the first place, the First Division.

In July, 18 by now, I played in the under-19s European Championship in Norway. We arrived with great expectations, we had a good team, even though we did make thing a bit complicated for ourselves by drawing with the Czech Republic. We made up for it with victories over the hosts, Norway, and Slovakia, playing excellent football. We beat the Germans in the final, I was sharp enough and lucky enough to score the winning goal in a game in which both teams played exceptionally. We were champions again, and once again I was both top scorer and Player of the Tournament.

After a year in the Second Division which hadn’t gone too well for me the fans were waiting to see what I’d be capable of in the First Division. It was a good season, I scored thirteen goals and played well all year- especially in the home games against Barcelona and against Deportivo La Coruña. Those two games marked my footballing career, in a way, because after those games the fans really started to believe in me, in my ability.

2003
In the First Division there’s more technique, more space, and that works to the advantage of attractive and spectacular football. Different from the Second Division, where tactical play is more important and many teams often make up for lasck of talent with an excess of toughness. That year I also made my debut with the under-21s, won more sep towards fulfilling my dream of playing for the full National side. With professional success comes recognition, and with this recognition comes fame.

I’m an accessible person. I think signing autographs after a training session is almost a duty, a moral obligation. I’m aware of the enthusiasm and excitement that the fans feel towards me, the respect and affection they have for me. In fact, not long ago I was one of them. Being important to the fans is a source of pride and satisfaction for me. What I don’t like so much is the loss of privacy, not being able to have a good time with friends in a public place like any normal person, which at the end of the day is what I am.

2004
My second season in the First Division was even better than the first. At nineteen years old I made my debut with the National Team, and at twenty I was playing in the European Championship. On top of that I scored twenty league goals, a good total.

Nonetheless there were two big disappointments for me: the first with Atletico de Madrid, in that after having been in the European places for much of the season, we missed out on the last day of the season- despite winning at San Mamés (home of Athletic Bilbao); the second big let-down was the European Championship- I still can’t understand how we didn’t beat Portugal- it was a disaster for all of us that got to me a lot, we had a great chance and I still don’t know how we let it slip away from us.

2005
Things did not go as well as we had hoped for Atletico in the 2004-05 season. Although I played in all the League games, scoring 16 goals, it wasn’t enough to get us into Europe. We even lost in the Cup semi-finals against Osasuna. All our hopes of getting a title for Atletico faded away and we were all dreadfully disappointed.

The season’s positive note was the National Team’s classification for the World Cup in Germany. Although we had some difficulties, we had to play the playoffs against Slovakia and we fulfilled our aim of getting classified.

Individual Awards

1998/99:
• Top scorer, Nike Cup Europe.
• Best Young European Player.

2000/01:
• Debut Atlético de Madrid First Team
• Top Scorer and Player of the Tournament Algarve Tournament
• Top Scorer y Player of the Tournament European Championship under-16, England.

2002/03:
• Top Scorer and Player of the Tournament European Championship under-19, Norway

2003/04:
• First Division Top Scorer, Spain
• Youngest forward to play in a Finals Tournament with the Spanish National Team (European Championship, Portugal 2004)

Atlético de Madrid

1998/99:
• European Champions, Atletico de Madrid Youth team, Nike Cup

2000/01:
• Champions, Youth Honour Division.
• Runners-up, Champions Cup.

2001/02:
• Champions, Spanish Second Division: Atlético de Madrid First Team.
(Promotion to First Division).

2002/03:
• Debut in the Spanish First Division for Atlético de Madrid at just 18 years old.

Spanish National Team

2000/01:
• Winners: Algarve Tournament (Portugal): under-16s.
• European Champions: under-16s.
• Capped in the under-17 World Cup (Trinidad- Tobago).

2001/02:
• Capped under-18s.
• European Champions: under-19s.
• Capped under-21s.

2003/04:
• Full International with the Spanish National Team. Played in the European Championships 2004 in Portugal.

Very nice post! does anyone have pictures of Torres with the Youth Squads and his first game with Atletico Madrid first team in 2001. Thanks and Forza Torres!

I'm not sure how old these pics are but they must be from around his debut season:



See more images at:

http://gallery.atleticomadrid.de/

Torres: Atletico Madrid fans shouldn't be angry with me
tribalfooball.com - July 26, 2006

Fernando Torres insists he won't ask away from Atletico Madrid.

After confirming he had offers from Manchester United and Inter Milan, at yesterday's big media conference Torres assured Atletico fans he would never demand a move away.

"Only if the two parties agree, I would leave, but until now this has not happened," said Torres. "There has been some talk of a new contract and I would be the first to listen to that.

"But so far I haven't heard anything official.

"If I've upset Atletico fans, then all I can say is what can I do? I have often said this: I am a player of Atletico and I want to be here. I have never said that I want to leave.

"It's you (journalists) that have sold me to 200,000 teams, I was going to Milan, then to Manchester - the fans never hear from me.

"I have left for the World Cup as a player of Atletico and have returned the same. I do not see any reason why people are upset with me."



I don't think any Atletico fans are angry with El Nino, just relieved that he is defiinately going to be staying for another season at least. The press blow things out proportion, and day after day tere are reports and stories that Fernando is going to leave, but in the end the club makes no official statement, the player makes no official statement and the transfer doesn't go through. Hardly surprising really. Until I hear an official staement from a club I will not be listening to what the press says about Torres, ever again!

What They Say About ... Fernando Torres
__________________________________________

Fernando Torres has been ahead of everyone else throughout his career, thanks to natural power, pace and explosiveness.

"He’s an ambitious player who has achieved all the goals he has set himself including recovery from a bad injury at a young age. He’s become a household name, a difficult task playing at a club which isn’t having one of it’s better spells in recent years, and he’ll probably become world famous because he is developing fully- without a doubt his name will mark a footballing era. Directness, pace, power, excellent in the air and the mindset of a born winner make Fernando an extraordinary player."

Abraham Garcia
Coach at Junior levels

"He is a different player, as the best. With the National team against Belgium he was inspirated, he kick two and the two were goals. Is a player with great qualities"

Alfio Basile
Argentina's National Team coach

"Fundamentally, Fernando is a very mature player in all aspects of the word. I particularly notice that he always chooses the best available option in any situation- that’s where his goalscoring prowess comes from.

Off the ball he plays the game very well, he has a remarkable change of pace and innate skill. These three factors are what make a player great. All that, added to excellent technical ability are what make Torres a special player.

Work off the ball, a change of pace and natural skill are the things that make a great player great, and Fernando brings together all three. "

Carlos Garcia Cantarero
Coach of Atletico Madrid 2001

"Fernando is a winner, and what he wants is to win things. He’s been here for two or three years and players are remembered for the medals they pick up. He’s a winner, he’s our flagship, and what he says people have to listen to. It’s very important that he thinks this way, it’s to our benefit."

César Ferrando
Former Atletico de Madrid coach

"For me Fernando Torres is one of the best players I’ve come up against in Spain, and he’s one of the best forwards in Europe. The problem is that, as he is a forward, people only look at his misses but he’s a great player"

David Beckham
Real Madrid Midfielder

"Fernando Torres is a forward’s forward, and he gives a team depth. He’s fast, direct and dangerous in the box. He’s still very young but he’s doing really well. He accepts responsibility and he has a great future."

Frank Rikjaard
FC Barcelona Coach

"My congratulations on breaking my record (with Atlético de Madrid) and I wish him all the luck in the world for the future. He has a big future and I hope he helps Atlético and the National Team with his goals.

When I see what is happening with Torres in Atlético, it reminds me of what happened to me. When I arrived, there was a drought of titles, and Torres, like me at that time, only needs titles to keep improving as a professional."

Hugo Sanchez
Atletico former player

"He’s the personification of youth. In the national team he’s demonstrated his character. He has two indispensable attributes: pace and a never-say-die attitude. He’s growing up and the only question is as to exactly how good he’s going to become. "

Iñaki Saez
Under-21 National Coach

"He is still a young player, I think. We have to be careful not to put him under too much pressure. So far I’ve seen that for many people he is the symbol of Atletico de Madrid, but he is only twenty years old and has hardly played two years at the top level. Nonetheless, he is very talented. But we have to remember that all this is very difficult for him. He’s young, he’s an idol, he’s the captain, he’s under a great deal of pressure. Just like everyone, he’s still got a lot to learn, but he has the advantage of having great potential. He plays for Spain, a lot of clubs are talking about him. I’m not about to tell him what he should do because he has to take his own decisions. He’s a great player who is still young."

Jesper Gronkjaer
Atletico forward

"Torres is a good player but we shouldn’t rush to decide exactly how good. He’s only twenty years old and at Atletico he’s a lone centre forward; he’s still developing as a footballer."

Johann Cruyff
Ex-Ajax, Netherlands and Barcelona

"Torres’ development in recent years has made him the number one forward in Spain. He has demonstrated that he has strength of character, proving wrong the criticism he received during his recent bad patch in front of goal- which was due to his getting little decent service. This affected his performances and meant that he sometimes tended to snatch at chances through anxiety. But the psychological factor is the most important thing and Torres passed that test with flying colours."

José Eulogio Gárate
Atletico Madrid legend

"Torres played an almost perfect game against Madrid. So he missed a couple of chances? OK, but lets not forget that he tore apart the flanks with his agility, he lost his marker explosively on various occasions, he broke the Madrid defence five times, he went through their central defence like a knife through butter and made his team-mates' job easier, putting pressure on when the opposition tried to play the ball out. Torres is a born goalscorer, as he’s been demonstrating for years. If he played for Barça he’d score more goals than we’d know what to do with. The problem is that at Atletico everyone expects him to be the saviour and he’s still just a kid. You put all that on a twenty year old lad’s shoulders, ask him to carry the whole team. If he was playing alongside Ronaldinho, Xavi, Deco or Eto’o I’m sure he’d show his true greatness. Torres is faster and more direct than Van Basten was. The Dutchman only betters Fernando in that he was more deadly in the box. "

Julio Salinas
European Cup Winner with FC Barcelona

"He’s set to be the big name of the coming decade. He gets stuck in, stands up well and although he looks slight it’s not easy to knock him off the ball. What catches my eye is how well he turns, despite being a tall lad. I remember a move he did against Xerez in the Calderon, at the corner of the eighteen yard box. He got away from four Xerez defenders in a fraction of a second, and left all four of them on the deck. "

Kiko
Ex team-mate of Fernando Torres

"He is a very young boy and he has big virtues, as his physicist. When he improves he will be one Van Basten"

Luis Aragonés
National team coach

"When I had him at Atletico de Madrid I was tough with him. But I believed in him. He had amazing pace and desire. He needs to improve his control, his ability to turn on the ball and his finishing, but he’s got other huge assets. He’s unpredictable, he scores unlikely, improbable goals, and he can score them in every way imaginable. "

Luis Aragones
National coach

"The first year I had Fernando he made a big difference, and that difference came from his intelligence. It wasn’t normal to see an eleven year-old kid with such touch, movement, and ability to lose his markers. He had an innate quality that others simply don’t possess.

He was a kid with a big personality and the rest of the group conceded to the obvious and handed him the mantle of leadership. Fernando was a quiet, even a shy child, he never wanted to be the leader but the role was decided for him by his peers.

I was sure Fernando would make it into the first team from when he was eleven. From that time on I’ve advised him to be humble, to learn, but one thing’s for sure- Fernando demonstrated a huge sense of responsibility moving into the first team at the age of eighteen, and taking the first team back to the First Division.

His assertiveness, his will to win and that touch of pace that few footballers the world over can claim- these are the great qualities that make him stand out from the crowd and although every great player could improve in some aspect Fernando is at the very highest level."

Manolo Rangel
Coach at Youth Levels

"I got to see the best of Fernando in the youth teams. It was the period of the Nike Cup and the European Championship Fernando won with the under-16s, when he was named Best Young Player in Europe.

Even as a lad he had the mean streak he’s got now, talking about on the pitch- something vital in people, same as Fernando’s other qualities like courage, ambition and the will to win. He was captain, which wasn’t easy at that time because of the differences between the lads who’d just arrived from outside Madrid and those who had been in the organization for a while. Nevertheless he knew how to handle the responsibility, young as he was, and to top it all he had to put up with the odd undeserved telling off without letting his team-mates get in trouble. That kind of responsibility that he acquired so young together with his footballing prowess have propelled Fernando into the elite.

In as much as the game is concerned he’s always been a technically superior player, he especially stood out from the rest in that he was always in the right place in the tough situations, thanks to which, without wanting to put the other lads down, we managed to win the Nike Cup. The day Fernando was missing we had problems, and that was something all his team-mates were aware of.

He was and is a footballer who makes the difference."

Pedro Calvo
Junior level coach

"Torres is already an important player. He has a great responsibility and sometimes the environment puts too many pressure, but he possesses very good qualities. In his club and in the National team he will be an important player and he will demonstrate the good he is."

Raul
Real Madrid player

06-06-2004
"I look at him and see myself in that bad-boy face. He’s got a lot of character. There are plenty of talented players who don’t have the desire that Torres has. Since I saw him make his debut, I’ve always said: this guy’s the real thing. He’s going to be the player of his generation for club and country.

He can take advantage of his pace, youth and desire. He’s a great football player and in a few years time he’ll be even better. He’s got it all, it’s frightening, his speed is overwhelming. He’s big and strong and his head’s in the right place too."

Raul
Real Madrid forward

"I’ve spoken to Wenger about bringing in Torres this year. He’s Spain’s best young player and he’s set to become on of the best in the world in the next few years. We can’t allow another team, Man U for example, to get to him first

Fernando Torres is a world class player. His ability to use his gifts to maximum effect is incredible. He’s fast, he’s got fantastic touch, skill and an intelligence that makes him stand out from other great players. "

Reyes
Arsenal forward

"The things I would say most stand out about Fernando Torres are that he’s one of the greatest players in the world, he’s young and he’s going to learn a lot, although he’s already an eye-catching player."

Ronaldo
Real Madrid forward

"Torres is an extraordinary forward, and If he has a good head he will become a worldwide player. He is young and he has everything to be grandiose"

Thierry Henry
French National Team Forward

"I really like Fernando Torres and I think he’s one of the top three forwards in the league. He’s brave and determined, he creates chances for his team-mates and to top it all he keeps scoring those goals, in the form he’s in at the moment. You feel frustrated, because we knew all this before the game, but it makes no odds, we never knew how to stop him. "

Victor Fernandez
Betis coach 2003-04

How did he get the name El Nino? What does it mean?

The Kid. That's what it means, as for exactly how he got it I'm not 100%. Assume it has something to do with his youth.

I assume it was when he was pushed into the first team aged 17 and was treated as 'the saviour' of the club.

A few young stars are given that nickname, Raul for example back when he was 17. The nickname is sometimes expanded to 'El Nino de Oror' or 'The Golden Boy'.

95-96 (11 years old)



Debut with Atletico (16 years old)





First goal (16 years old)






Celebration tribute to Kiko, ''the archer''.



Others

Some quality pics there, i'll add some to the media zone later

Yesterday, Fernando Torres spoke again. He said, "I will stay at Atletico as long as I want to be here and as long as the club wants me".

If that's not stating the obvious, I dont know what is.

What are you saying nand?

That I dont see it too clear that he isn't going to leave. Instead of saying, "I want to be at Atleti forever", or "I am commited to this project", he still leaves a little window open. And this coming on a day that it is reported that Milan have come in with a new offer.

I dont know, it just doesnt seem right.

Yeah, I see what you're saying now Nando. He has left a door open i'd agree, but whether this is intentional or not is another story. Things like that can be opened through poor translation (or even poor use of language in the first place), just look at when Drogba 'admitted' to diving.

I for one hope he stays, but maybe this Mista deal was clinched with a possible departure in mind...

Surely if he doesnt sign a new deal this summer he would have to be sold seeing that he has only two years left, can A Madrid afford to allow him to run down his contract out?

Mmmm...he said ''I want to be here '', and it's possible sing new contract

Here is a old Fernando Torres Compilation I already posted a year ago and now in the Atletico Madrid Media Zone. It's not a high quality movie, but I think it's nice though. It's 130mb, 9min16. Here you go :

Fernando Torres Comp - MegaUpload.com

Fernando Torres New Comp by Link (www.infiernorojiblanco.com)

bb code extra

Fernando Torres New Comp by Link (www.infiernorojiblanco.com)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7HPP6RL0

I love your compilation F9T. There were a lot of moments I hadn't seen before...and it's nice that you included some more recent video's, like the lovely goals vs Villarreal and Ukrain

Yeah it's areal nice video, howing his major goals in the seasons past. Just reminds what a great player he can be, so deadly in front of goal.

can someone post recent of Torres during this preseason tournament, torres with his new hair style, shaved head. thanks

Hows this:

According to as.com Torres' contract will be extended to 30th June 2009.

In Dutch media I read he will get a higher salary, which is currently €3.000.000 a year. It also said they would speak about lowering his buy-out clausule, while on Goal.com they said they wanted to raise the buy-out clause...

i read on sport.yahoo.it that he could end up at Milan this summer, as he didnt renew his contract. the title of the article is Milan: Torres si allontana da Madrid....meaning Torres becoming distant from Madrid.

It seems as if Fernando Torres suffered an ankle sprain in the match against Iceland.

There’s a doubt if Torres will play the match against Getafe

Fernando gets better of his ankle injury and tomorrow we will know if he will form part of the red and white expedition

Fernando Torres trained apart of the group at the preparatory Friday season, and it is on doubt if he will play tomorrow 19 of August the practise match Atletico of Madrid against Getafe at the ‘Coliseo Alfonso Perez’ Stadium (8:00 p.m.). This match will be useful to the team of Madrid before their fans.

The forward progress very good of his ankle sprain that suffered the last Tuesday at the practise match against Iceland, although we have to wait to the training season of tomorrow at 10:30 a.m at Ciudad Deportiva of Majadahonda, to know if his name will figures in the summonded list of Javier Aguirre to the commitment against the blue team.



http://www.fernando9torres.com/inicio.php?new_leng=uk

Torres scores two goals and keeps his high-scoring

The forward standed out in the Nacional Team in a practise match ended 4-0 favourable to the starter team

Fernando Torres scored two goals and he became the figure of the practise match that the national Team celebrated yesterday at ‘Las Rozas’. Raul and Cesc complete the goal list at the practise match, which ended 4-0 favourable to the starter team. Torres confirmed the good moment he had during the preseason and at the begin of the League. He also collaborated with a goal pass that Raul transformed it to the third one.

The defense selected by Luis Aragones in the practice match was almost the same one that played in the quarterfinals against France in the World Cup, with the exception that Albelda was in the place of Xavi. The movility of the offensive triple standed out, formed by Fernando Torres, Raul and Villa, who were alternating the positions continuously, either for both sides, for the front or as a shooters. The team which will played against Liechtenstein at Badajoz could be formed by Iker Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Pablo, Puyol, Pernía; Xabi Alonso, Albelda, Cesç Fábregas; Villa, Fernando Torres y Raúl. The forward from Madrid didn’t demonstrate any discomfort in the right ankle.

Torres set to sign new Atletico Madrid deal
tribalfooball.com - September 03, 2006

Fernando Torres will sign a new contract extension with Atletico Madrid this week.
Atletico are planning a media conference on Thursday to announce that Torres has signed a deal which will keep him at the club until 2009. The new contract will also see his buyout clause drop from ?40 million to ?25 million.

Torres resisted a move to Manchester United immediately after the World Cup to pledge his future to the Vicente Calderon.

http://www.tribalfootball.com/article.php?id=10238


Fernando Torres Breaks The Deadlock
Spain romp to 4-0 victory over liechtenstein

BADAJOZ, September 2 (Euro 2008 Qualifying) - Spain bounced back from their latest underwhelming World Cup campaign by thrashing Liechtenstein to kick off their Euro 2008 qualifying adventure with an easy three points in Badajoz.

First-half goals by strikers Fernando Torres and David Villa got the ball rolling, before Villa - with his second - and Luis Gracia garnished the scoreline as Luis Aragones' men returned to competitive action two months after their second-round defeat to France in Germany.

Aragones went with an attacking 4-3-3 formation from the off, Raul joining Torres and Villa up front, and it paid almost immediate dividends when Mariano Pernia's close-range shot needed to be well saved by goalkeeper Peter Jehle in the first minute.

The deadlock was broken in the 20th minute, Villa supplying Torres, who provided an unforgiving finish from 12 yards into the top corner.

Spain continued to dominate possession, although they failed to create a clear-cut chance until the second goal arrived in the 45th minute, Villa guiding the ball home right-footed from 12 yards from the right of the penalty area.

Torres could have notched his second of the night in the 58th minute but his header from close range was kept out by Jehle.

It did not matter as three minutes later, the hosts scored the third when Villa finished low from the centre of the penalty area for his second of the night.

The fourth came in the 65th minute from Garcia, who had come on as a replacement for Villa.

Pernia sent in a textbook cross from the left and the Liverpool forward applied a right-footed finish from six yards.

Spain eased off in the final quarter, but they will have tougher challenges ahead in Group F.
Source: ESPN Soccernet

http://www.soccerpulse.com/article.php?id=...ks+The+Deadlock

A £25m buy-out clause is worrying and hints at an impending sale in my opinion. A long-term deal is great news if he is willing to respect it, but the decreasing buy-out clause leaves the window open for a possible transfer probably next summer. In my opinion, £25m is not enough for a young player of Torres capability in today's transfer market. A fee of £30-35m is far more appropriate in my opinion, and as a fan I don't our clubs captain and icon sold for anything less. I sincerely hope that tribalfootball.com are bullshitting again.

A 25million buy-out clause would indeed be way to low. Do you know what the previous buy-out clause was ? Atletico should have tried to raise it to at least 60million or something like that, so that they can demand any offer they find appropriate. But I guess Fernando wasn't in for that...

40m was the previous buy out clause I believe it states in the article posted. Strange that it was lowered... You don't normally get that in younger players coming up.

Milan already have Gilardino and Oliveira who are both still young we need him more than they do hopefully in a couple of years he will be a United player.

Did anyone see his red card against Valencia? That was so dumb! What the hell was Canizares doing? Torres didn't even touch him! Poor Torres...

Torres’ red to be treated as yellow

The competition committee of the Spanish Football Federation accepted an appeal lodged by Atletico Madrid Football Club meaning the red card shown to Fernando Torres during the match against Valencia is effectively annulled. The committee will treat the red as a yellow, but it will prevent the striker playing in San Mamés against Athletic Bilbao, given that it was his second yellow of the match.

Great video : All Torres' goals vs Barcelona[size=2]

Download Torres vs Barça
All packed in one video. 11mb. Zip.file. 1min12.

Many thanks to Maurinho and Tacchinardi79.

Incredible how much Torres always scores vs Barça, can't wait for this years game in Camp Nou . I only wish he'd score a bitmore often in El Bernabeu

Thanks Derek, as overrated as he is watching anyone score like this against Barca is fantastic. I really enjoyed this thanks friend.

haha, but hey, don't thank me but Maurinho and Tacchinardi79...I'm just the delivery-boy

Rapidwands has made an incredible Torres compilation, check it out:
http://www.soccerpulse.com/forum/index.php...p;#entry1542270
Download link : Megaupload

I've searched for some more compilations bout El Niño:

Another Rapidwands comp on Torres:
YouTube

For the women, a photo-comp:
YouTube

Another photo Torres comp by MoRedGirl17
YouTube

Torres after Real Madrid match I think, on TeleMadrid. :
YouTube - Spanish Interview

F. Torres, candidate to win the ‘Ballon d’Or’ 2006

'France Football’ incluyes the Atletico's captain and forward of the Spanish Team between the 50 best worldwide football players

Fernando Torres has been nominated candidate to obtain the ‘Ballon d’Or’ 2006, the prestigious prize that every year the magazine ‘France Football’ gives to the best player of the year.The captain with 22 years old, enteres in the list of the 50 football players of the world after a great performance with the National Team at Germany’s WorldCup. The definitive list will be announced in few hours at the French publication, even though, the international agency has already announced to the fifty candidates. Another three Spanish players accompanied to Fernando Torres: Carles Puyol, Cesc Fabregas and David Villa. The winner of this prize will make known the November 27th in a gala that will be celebrated in Paris.

Fernando Torres, in declarations in his web page, it showed very satisfied with the news. “It is an flattery have been included in the chosen list of football players. It is a prize to work well-done. Without a doubt, it is a motivation to keep makinf efforts with the Atleti and with the National Team”.

The list of the 50 nominated players is the following: Ballack (Chelsea), Buffon (Juventus), Cahill (Everton), Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Shevchenko (Chelsea), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Coupet (Lyon), Cris (Lyon), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Deco (Barcelona), Diarra (Real Madrid), Drogba (Chelsea), Essien (Chelsea), Eto’o (Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Gallas (Arsenal), Gattuso (Milan), Gerrard (Liverpool), Giuly (Barcelona), Grosso (Inter of Milán), Henry (Arsenal), Juninho (Olympique of Lyon), Kaká (Milan), Klose (Werder Bremen), Lahm (Bayer Munich), Lampard (Chelsea), Lehmann (Arsenal), Makelele (Chelsea), Malouda (Lyon), Méndez (PSV Eindhoven), Messi (Barcelona), Pirlo (Milan), Podolski (Bayer Munich), Puyol (Barcelona), Ribery (Olympique of Marsella), Ronaldinho (Barcelona), Riquelme (Villarreal), Robben (Chelsea), Rooney (Manchester), Sagnol (Bayern Múnich), Schweinsteiger (Bayern Múnich), Terry (Chelsea), Thuram (Barcelona), Tiago (Lyon), Toni (Fiorentina), Fernando Torres (Atlético of Madrid), Vieira (Inter of Milán), Villa (Valencia), Zambrotta (Barcelona) and Zidane (retired).

As a United fan this is something I have kept an eye on, however I am not convinced he will be coming to the English Premier League should he even decide to leave Athletico, they just seem to go hand in hand, kind of like Keane and United.

Really I hate to do this but don't call it Athletico please. There is Athletico Bilbao and Atletico Madrid.... Sorry

This guy starts to look like **** Van Basten ! I don't know what he's thinking, but leaving out Xavi, Torres and Raúl is crazy. I guess Puyol is out because of his private problems (death of his father), otherwise it would be stupid to leave him either. Sure Torres isn't in great form, but Morientes is neither. And Torres is way better than Arizmendi. Can't really understand the call-ups for Lopo and Ángel either.

Jesse, congrats on the call up of Silva

Well the thing is that Arizmendi has been in super form for Depor. He isn't a better player than Riki and some other Spanish strikers but he has been playing really well and he deserves a chance based on his form.

Pretty disapointed that Albiol wasn't called up. I don't know what the guy has to do to make Aragones notice him. He has been superb all season and last season. Still happy that he noticed the efforts of Javi Narvarro and Lopo who also deserve it imo

And really it was a matter of time before the Valencia wonderkid Silva got a call up. He hasn't been at his best yet but his fantastic ability justifies this call up.

I guess what Torres needs to do is put his head down, work hard and start scoring.

a striker who has scored 9 goals in 11 games this season, if that is not on form then i dont know what is ?

Just a note on that point. Xavi hasn't fully recovered from his knock, and he won't be starting for Barça either.

Aragones declared today that he wants to use this match to try out some things and said that he purely called up players because of their form. Though he knows there are some players better than the ones called up now. I'm wondering who he will callup for the match vs England, isn't that SPain's next match?

TORRES UP FOR £25M

MANCHESTER UNITED boss Sir Alex Ferguson has made a new move for Atletico Madrid striker Fernando Torres - but has been told the price is a stunning £25million.

Now the Old Trafford money men are deciding whether to meet the valuation in January.

Fergie has resumed a quest to sign the Spain star, 22, as he realises they need more firepower to win the title.

Mirror.co.uk

25MP is around 37MEuros, isn't it? That is I think Torres' clause, so it seems Atletico are asking the maximum for Torres and really don't want him to leave. Though they could use the money