Torres (10 page)
Unfortunately, in February 2004, El Niño is again injured and the second part of the season isn’t as productive as the first.
Meanwhile, Torres has extended his contract up until the end of 2008. It’s somewhat less than what the board had wanted. It would have liked to renew it up until 2010 or even 2014. El Niño is one of the team captains: ‘It was difficult because of his age and because there were other players older than him in the dressing room but they helped him to be a good captain. They respected him and everyone listened to what he thought. He was the emblematic player and symbol of Atléti but he still didn’t consider himself a star and nor was he,’ recalls Manzano. ‘He was beginning to grow and mature a lot during the season. He’s always been someone who’s open to everything with an extraordinary human quality. If you had to pick out some things, I would choose his ability to surmount difficulties, his humility, his unselfishness and his ambition. The only bad point was his lack of experience and not pacing himself during matches.’
Despite the good results, Gregorio Manzano lasted for just one season and in 2004–05, César Ferrando arrives. The manager changes but the club’s institutional crisis means there is no money to reinforce the squad. The key element in all this for Atlético is, once more, Fernando, who is twenty and a star. He is one of the most sought-after Number 9s in Europe and the idol of teenagers, mothers, and of the younger fans, who believe he will be bigger than all the club’s previous glories. He is a marketing man’s dream, selling everything from watches to footwear, from video games to beer, from breakfast cereals to jeans. One example is Pepe Jeans. Thanks to the Torres effect – charismatic, charming
and dynamic – it increased its Spanish sales by 25 per cent. Torres is a model for fashion and women’s magazines. The rates for use of his image rise 75 per cent in three years.
And he is the driving force behind Atlético’s commercial operations – 70 per cent of the replica shirts sold have his name on them. He earns 3½ million Euros a year, drives a metallic grey Porsche Carrera 4S (his first capricious buy) and is superstitious – so much so that every time things don’t go well, he changes his hairstyle. He goes to Olman, his hairdresser, who invents a style. From shaved head to punk look-alike, from spikey to coloured highlights. He likes to dress up in the latest fashions and, sometimes, when he can, he even goes to watch a fashion show. An elegant champion who does good business with his image to such an extent that they’ve started comparing him to David Beckham, the football pop star who arrived in 2004 on the other side of Madrid. But he wants to clarify that ‘Beckham sells a huge amount all over the world but if he stopped playing, his advertising income would also go down. Basically, the image of a footballer is built up starting with what he does on the pitch. For this reason, I would never not go to a training session because of a photographic shoot.’
He doesn’t like politics but is fascinated by the people who go out into the street to protest against the war in Iraq or to condemn the Atocha bombings of 11 March 2004. He hopes they succeed in changing things. He’s a modern type, who believes in God but sees no problem with homosexual marriages, which the Spanish church vehemently condemns. As an adult, if he wasn’t a footballer he would have liked to be the singer of a rock group: ‘Someone capable of moving a lot of people, like footballers, only a rock star doesn’t have opponents.’
In an interview with the Italian newspaper,
Corriere della Sera
, he even describes how he doesn’t like football: ‘I say
it in all seriousness. It bores me to watch a match on TV. I’ve never seen one all the way through. I like to play. I love the match and the fans but everything that goes on behind the scenes – from the little I know about it – I don’t want to know. The television companies, which impose their own rules and economic interests, which overload the (sporting) calendar. At the end of the day, it’s only business and nothing to do with watching sport.’ A surprising response for someone who lives thanks to football and who enjoys a huge popularity.
Fame continues to surprise him. ‘All the time. Above all, outside Spain. But football is now almost like a worldwide commercial.’ Difficult to live with? ‘At first I found it difficult. I was shy, I was embarrassed. I was blushing. Now, a little at a time, I’m getting used to it even if it’s difficult. I miss the times when I was able to go for a walk with my dog without anyone stopping me in the street. But that’s the price you have to pay.’ What does he make of the millions he’s earned? ‘The first thing I did was buy a house for my parents, a car for my father and my sister and help my brother Israel with his mortgage. I’ve become what I am thanks to them. I will never forget that if it wasn’t for my mother (several times she arrived late at work to take me to training sessions) I would not be here. It seems right and proper to give back to them everything that they’ve given me.’
A good lad who still lives with his parents: ‘My mother is a great cook. Her pasta with cream and ham is streets ahead of anything you get on training camps. And of course they know me well. If I got big-headed, they would let me know about it.’
Even his manager says so: ‘The success hasn’t gone to his head.’ In spite of this, the sports journalists dedicate their front pages to him after he puts two goals past Barcelona in
the Camp Nou on 6 February 2005. ‘He trains just the same as any of the others because he is very competitive and a very good team-mate. He never tires of learning. These things outside of sport don’t affect him.’ Another thing that pleasantly surprises manager César Ferrando is the ‘leadership ability of Torres. He has taken the bull by the horns and said this is down to me, I will be pulling my own weight.’ Come May, though, because he has been pulling his own weight, El Niño is worn out. In-between the league, the Cup, the Intertoto and the national side, he’s the player who’s played the most minutes in Spain. He can’t go on, he hasn’t scored in more than a month and Atlético have come to a halt. They no longer have any options in the league and they’ve been knocked out of the Cup. They will finish 12th, a long way off the champions, Barcelona. His own account, however, is positive: sixteen league goals and two in the Cup.
In 2005–06 he begins another season and in the dugout there’s a new manager. This time, it’s the Argentinian, Carlos Bianchi. He has an impressive CV, which includes Boca, Velez and Roma, the backing of the directors and major reinforcements on the pitch – Mateja Kezman (signed from Chelsea), Martin Petrov (now with Manchester City) and the Argentinians, Maxi Rodríguez, and Luciano Galletti. On paper it’s a strong and winning squad. There’s hope of qualifying for the Champions League. The new gaffer starts well, Torres playing his part, scoring as he knows how and ending up surrounded by controversy because of a very unusual celebration.
In October, in the Rosaleda stadium against Malaga, he scores a penalty – his third goal of the season – then sticks out his tongue and puts his fingers in his ears while running down the pitch. The crowd don’t like it and take it very badly, perceiving it as an insult, while in fact, it’s a birthday dedication to his friend Jorge Larena who plays for Celta.
A juvenile joke between the two that becomes a hot media topic. But that’s nothing compared with what happens some time later.
By the 18th match of the season, Atlético are floundering in the lower reaches of the league, raising once again the possibility of ending up in the second division. Carlos Bianchi packs his bags. Four years later, Torres will say: ‘He had very good ideas but the players didn’t understand him.’ In his place, comes Pepe Murcia, who begins in style. He wins five matches on the trot and brings the team back from the depths to end up just four points off a position that would have finally seen them playing in Europe. It’s fourteen years since Atlético has achieved anything like that and the fans had their hopes high. But as always disappointment is just around the corner. Atlético once again finish empty-handed, in 10th position, and Europe remains a mirage. It’s necessary to start all over again.
The next season – El Niño’s last – begins in the company of Mexican manager, Javier Aguirre and ‘Kun’ Sergio Agüero, the young Argentinian phenomenon who’s being compared to Maradona and Romario. He’s the most expensive signing in Atlético’s history. He has come from Independiente at a cost of 20 million Euros. He should be the perfect support for Torres, who, in the Germany World Cup, described him as a great striker. The ingredients for success, this time, really do all seem to be there. Atlético, together with Barcelona, are the teams generating most expectations. Instead, it’s Fabio Capello’s Real Madrid that wins the league on the last day of the season. El Niño has already decided to leave. In seven seasons without winning a single trophy, he has scored 82 goals and seven in the Copa del Rey. He was the icon and standard-bearer of the team who, at seventeen, ‘knew how to take on the starring role and keep alive the hopes of an institution in its
darkest hour. The administration’, writes Manolete-Manuel Esteban – journalist of sport daily newspaper,
AS
, and one of Atlético’s best-known supporters – ‘was dominated and hounded by the courts. The club’s enemies were taking advantage and no one gave any importance to what was happening on the pitch. His appearance on the scene led to an explosion and a breath of fresh air. He didn’t have any doubts about putting his professional future at risk, even when the directors asked him to help underwrite and ease the financial difficulties. He knew how to raise the hopes of the fans and declare that he would never wear the white of Real Madrid. His years were always presided over by performances of a high calibre and, above all, by being a kind of Robin Hood figure, who was trying to take a part of the popularity from the big clubs and give it to the less fortunate ones. In the end he needed a change of scenery to make his wishes come true.’
He’s earned it the hard way
Conversation with Mexico and former Atlético de Madrid manager, Javier Aguirre
Following an afternoon in Madrid’s Las Ventas bullring to see his fellow countryman and bullfighter, ‘El Payo’
,
in action, followed by some
tapas
with friends, ‘El Vasco’ (‘The Basque’) Aguirre has a few moments to chat. It is almost midnight and he still has his case to pack. In the morning, he leaves for Mexico City, where, in a few days, he will be in the dugout for his first match in charge of the Mexico national team. On 3 April 2009, the Mexican Football Federation appointed him to succeed ex-England and Manchester City manager, Sven-Göran Eriksson. It is his second spell as manager of the national team. The first began in 2001 and ended after the side’s exit at the hands of the US from the 2002 South Korea and Japan World Cup after reaching the last sixteen. For the seven years in-between he lived his big Spanish adventure.
It started in Pamplona with Osasuna, the team where Aguirre played briefly in 1986 before a broken leg put a premature end to his Spanish playing career. Returning as manager in 2002, over the next four seasons he took Osasuna to a Copa del Rey final and classification for the UEFA Cup. In 2006, thanks to a fourth place in the league, they qualified for the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history. An achievement that earned him a one-
year contract with Atlético Madrid. ‘El Vasco’ Aguirre took up the challenge of returning the club to the upper reaches of
La Liga
and a place in Europe. He says of Fernando: ‘Any manager in the world would want Torres in his team. Who wouldn’t? Fernando is the standard-bearer of the team.’
On 3 February 2009, when El Niño had been with Liverpool for almost two years, Aguirre was sacked after the club suffered a bad run of results. Fernando gave an interview in which he spoke positively of his former manager: ‘He’s probably been the team’s best manager in recent years, getting them into the Champions League, and no one can take that away from him. That’s why he was hired and that’s what he achieved. I don’t think he is the real culprit of this situation. That’s how football is.’
Now it is his turn to talk about Fernando. With the Atlético uproar now in the past and with the relative calmness his experience and new post allows him, he recalls in measured tones El Niño’s final year in the red and white of Atlético Madrid.
‘I think he deserves all the good things that have happened to him. And when I say that, I’m referring to the advertising contracts, to playing in the Champions League, to battling on right until the end of the English season. He deserves it all because life hasn’t done him any favours. In the year that I was with him, I realised that he was a lad who was trying to improve himself every day. What he has, he’s earned it the hard way.’
‘I don’t remember making any declaration, either me or Fernando. What I remember is that when I arrived at Atlético, we talked with Fernando about the fact that the club needed to be in Europe because a lot of years had gone by since that had last happened. Fernando had never played in a European competition with Atlético. I do remember discussing this objective and him welcoming me as captain and he said that this was his objective as well.’
‘Very well. Fernando was a lad who was very straight with everyone. He was born in the club and grew up in the club. In the dressing room, he gave the impression of being shy, quiet, and it’s true he didn’t say much, but when he spoke one heard him. He was a natural leader. I remember that people looked up to him with a lot of respect. The club administration and directors used him at all the club events. He was the image of Atlético Madrid. There was an event for sick children and Fernando went, there was an event in the prison and Fernando went, there was a meeting of supporters’ groups and Fernando went. He was always available, always saying ‘yes’ to anyone who asked for an autograph or a photo. He was a man who knew what he wanted and we always had a great relationship. He always treated me well and was very respectful of my decisions. He always did his best for the team, and as captain he would always be prepared to take the flak.’
‘The person. I never saw that lad pull a long face, I never saw a rude gesture, he always had a smile for everyone. This is the best side of him because as a footballer he now has it all. He is complete, you can’t single out anything. As a person, he’s much better.’
‘What was good was that he knew that he had to improve lots of things. He had it all, he really did, to be a top star player. He was that already but he knew that there was room to improve still further. And because of that, Fernando wanted more training every day. Every day he studied the details of every move. He was the first to arrive and the last to leave. He is a true professional. Technically, his left side required a bit more effort as well as his guidance of the ball – he would suddenly rush forward too much. There were little details that he polished up and improved considerably. But I remember telling my defenders, Perea and Pablo, not to try to play the ball, clear it long and hard, without looking, send it right upfront and this lad will use it to his advantage. And it was true. Fernando was capable of controlling the ball perfectly, of running between three opposition defenders and scoring goals. There were moves where he kept it really simple, getting hold of a loose ball and going out to the wing – or from one of those unusual clearances – and turning it into a goal.’
‘At this point I have to explain a very odd thing that happened to me – I didn’t know that he was leaving.’ Aguirre laughed bitterly. ‘I assumed he was going to stay. I say this because in the last league game of the season, we were in Pamplona playing against Osasuna, and for a UEFA Cup place we needed favourable results from the matches involving Sevilla and Zaragoza. With five minutes to go, we were winning 2-1, Sevilla were winning and Zaragoza were losing. In the dugout, I called Torres over and told him, ‘We are in Europe, we’re going to Europe, Fernando,’ and he looked at me and smiled. In that moment I didn’t know it
but afterwards I realised what he was thinking, which was that “Yes, I will be in Europe – with Liverpool.” He already had an agreement and his departure was certain. The truth is that I knew nothing. In fact, I went on holiday to Mexico and it’s there that I found out, from the press, that Fernando was leaving for Liverpool. My surprise was all the greater because nobody had consulted me. It was a done deal. But really it wasn’t so strange because the Reds are a team, a big team, and Atlético at that time, were an uncertainty. We went into the Intertoto, after that to the UEFA Cup and then into the Champions League. We’d have liked to have had Fernando with us. In fact, we came together again in the Champions League (Group Stage), when we drew with Liverpool here and away. It was good for us to meet up. It was a pity that he couldn’t be on the pitch. In both games, he was injured and saw the game from the stand.’
‘Yes, and I’ll say something else. When I arrived at Atlético, I asked him if he would like to continue being captain. I said to him “Look, if you want to leave it, go and relax, enjoy yourself and just be one of the team.” He replied in the negative because he felt involved, because he loved Atlético so much and he wanted to grow with the team, but I could see that the lad was suffering – he had too many things weighing down on him. Here he had responsibility for the dressing room, the administration, the fans and the press. For better or for worse, he had to be involved with everyone and everything, whereas in Liverpool he is just one more person. There are three or four who are also important and Fernando is part of that group but he is not the captain. Anfield brings out the best in him because now he doesn’t have all those responsibilities.’
‘That doesn’t surprise me at all, In the physical tests, for resistance, for strength, in the day-to-day work, one saw that he had a huge potential. But I repeat, I think the great secret of his success has been that in Liverpool he’s not the captain and he dedicates himself solely to play the 90 minutes, while at Atlético he dedicated himself to a lot of things, the poor lad – interviews, sponsors, junior team, supporter groups, the social work of the Foundation. He was very involved and stressed out. Now he can relax and enjoy himself and he’s had two spectacular years with Liverpool and the national team. In Euro 2008 he was completely in tune with the Spanish team, he was finishing the moves made by the midfield and scored a great goal in the final, very much in the Torres style, overcoming the German defender when he was at a disadvantage, always with that strength and that desire to score goals. His success at Euro 2008 doesn’t surprise me. Luis Aragonés, the manager, knows him very well and got the best possible performance out of him.’
‘Fernando always left us some small gift, always gave us a smile – he has a big heart. The best memory that I have was when, after a big match and without being asked for it, he signed the shirt for my three sons, Ander, Mikel and Iñaki, who are big football fans.’
‘It would give me a huge amount of pleasure because that would mean that we had qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Let’s hope so, let’s hope so. I would love to greet Fernando Torres because he is a good friend.’
