Football Special Report: 32 Greatest footballers in the history of the English Premier League (Part 13)
22. Fernando Torres (Continued):
He was also selected for the second group match and the Spanish striker managed to score twice against Tunisia. The Spaniards were losing 0-1 to the Tunisian side but Torres’ 76th equalizer helped them bounce back and later he won a penalty kick
and in the 90th minute after scoring the second goal of the match, he earned the man of the match award.
Despite such amazing form, he was dropped from the friendly match against Romania in the same year but he still came back to the national side when they faced England in the start of 2007. The Spaniards won the match 1-0 but it was not Torres who scored
for the Spanish team that night. Soon after the FIFA World Cup 2006, he told the press that he rejected the offer to join the English team Chelsea, as they offered him to join them there for the 2005-2006 season.
In the year 2007, Fernando Torres’ future in the Spanish team Atletico Madrid looked to be in doubt. With Atletico Madrid not qualifying for the UEFA Cup again, teams like Arsenal Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United were all linked with the Spaniard.
The English media was all over the place and kept on printing that Torres was the main target for the English side Liverpool and he was their main transfer target.
The rumours became so famous that finally the Atletico Madrid president, Cerezo made a statement clearing all the doubts. He told the press that no club has made an offer to them and they are not even interested in selling the player. However, soon the Spanish
team introduced the Villa Real striker Diego Forlan to their squad. On the other hand, Torres was still linked with Liverpool, the “new” reports showed that a deal worth 20 million pounds along with Luis Garcia is going to take place, and Fernando Torres is
going to be a part of the English Club Liverpool.
When the world saw Diego Forlan (a possible replacement for Fernando Torres) coming to Atletico Madrid, it was obvious that Torres was going to leave. On 3rd July, Fernando Torres passed a medical test at the English club Liverpool and he announced
that he was going to say his goodbyes to the Madrid fans the very next day. Right before the “farewell” speech, Atletico Madrid officially confirmed that the Spaniard was going to leave for Liverpool and he joined the English club the very next day.
Fernando Torres wore the number 9 jersey for Liverpool which was previously worn by the Legendary Liverpool strikers Robbie Fowler and Ian Rush. Later, the Liverpool press revealed that the deal was worth 27 million pounds.
The long awaited Fernando Torres was finally ready to play for the English club and soon the wait was over when he made his official debut for Liverpool on 17th July, 2007. The match was a “friendly game” against the German club Werder Bremen.
However, his first official goal for Liverpool did not come till the start of the next month when he scored against Shanghai Shenhua in a friendly match. That game was the first time that Torres made the starting eleven for the English club. Torres, to date,
is Liverpool’s record signing and no other player has reached the 27 million pounds mark. He finally made a Premier League debut and the match was won by Liverpool as they defeated Aston Villa 2-1 at Anfield.
His first English Premier League goal came the very same month when Liverpool were to face the strong Chelsea side at their home ground, Anfield. He scored a fabulous goal after an amazing ball from the Liverpool captain Steven Gerard and he went past the
defender Tal Ben Haim and scored a fabulous goal after shooting the ball into the top right corner.
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