Torres (13 page)

Conversation with former Liverpool player, Michael Robinson

The background of his iPhone screen is red. The image shows a figure wearing a Number 9 shirt, with blond hair and arms raised – Fernando Torres in front of the Liverpool badge. Smiling, Michael Robinson displays his mobile phone. He has been a fan of The Reds for as long as he can remember. ‘I was born in Leicester but a few years later my parents, for business reasons, moved to Blackpool, about 30 minutes from Anfield. Right from when I was a small boy I never missed a match in the Kop. I dreamed one day of being one of those players in the red shirt.’ A dream that became reality in 1983, when Liverpool paid £250,000 to Brighton and Hove Albion for the striker who had so impressed at Wembley in the FA Cup Final against Manchester United.

Robinson spent just one season (1983–84) with the Reds, mostly as a reserve striker, trying to create a space for himself in-between Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush. But for him and the club it was a glorious year, winning the old First Division title, the FA Cup and the European Cup. In December 1994, he left for Queen’s Park Rangers, spending two seasons there before moving to Spain, playing for Osasuna (in Pamplona).

‘I arrived the day of Reyes (the day in Spain for giving Christmas presents), 6 January 1987, so now I’ve been living
here for 22 years!’ That’s right, because after retiring from football in 1989, ‘The Cat’ – as he was called by his friend, the Liverpool captain, Graeme Souness – has transformed himself into one of the best-known faces and voices on Spanish television and radio. ‘I am’, he says, ‘the only English footballer on Spanish TV. I’m still alone on the podium.’ He has commentated on both rugby and football matches, taken part in countless panel discussions, all in his unmistakable English accent, dubbed the voice of the ugly sister in the
Shrek 2
&
3
films and had the honour of being represented in the Spanish equivalent of
Spitting Image
on the
Canal+
television channel, with his puppet figure taking the role of programme presenter, no less. On
Canal+
as always, he now presents
Informe Robinson
(Robinson Report), a series looking at all aspects of the world of sport. To talk with him and listen to his everlasting stories is a pleasure. He knows Liverpool very well, a city and club close to his heart, as well as Fernando Torres, who was the subject of one of his programmes.

5 March 2008

It’s a nice gesture by the captain. After the final whistle, he walks up to the referee, asks him for the ball, goes across the field and offers it, as if it was a bunch of roses to Fernando Torres on the bench. El Niño accepts it from Stevie with a big smile. It’s the third ball that he’s taken from an English ground and his third hat-trick of the season. In six long years at Atlético he never scored three in one game. In England, it’s become a habit. The first time was on 25 September, in the Carling Cup against Reading at the Madejski Stadium. The second, on 23 February, in the league and the latest against the Hammers. Luckily – for West Ham – he hit the post in the 67th minute, otherwise it would have been 4. Not only is he exceeding his personal boundaries but also those of Liverpool. It’s the first time in 60 years that a player in the red strip has scored a hat-trick in two consecutive matches at Anfield. Never before had a single striker scored in seven consecutive home games – but it happened a short time later. And not since 2003 (Michael Owen) had a Liverpool player racked up more than twenty goals in a season.

Talking of records, before he finishes the 2007–08 season, he will break several. But first a look in the rear-view mirror. In three months, from July to September, the striker from Spain has become important, very important – for everyone. Midfield organiser, Xabi Alonso, acknowledges it
in a declaration to the club website: ‘Torres is demonstrating that he’s not afraid of the physical contact that exists here, with defenders who will try to bring him down. His rivals realise that Fernando isn’t afraid of them and that’s an extra motivation for him.’

When the new acquisition is on the bench, as happened against Portsmouth, or when he’s seen warming up on the edge of the pitch, as on 22 September at home against Birmingham, the fans and the media get restless. Especially when, three days later in the Carling Cup against Reading, he nets three. They always want to see him in the starting line-up and make fun of Rafa Benítez’s rotation policy. Take the
Daily Mirror
headline for its analysis of the situation: ‘Why Mrs Benítez would be happy if Rafa even rotated her rotisserie’. A discussion that begins with an imaginary dialogue between Rafa and Montse at breakfast time on the usefulness of rotating the various electrical appliances to make toast. It’s worth another look:

The main target of this ribaldry defends himself to the hilt, maintaining that, for sure, ‘Fernando can play twenty or thirty matches on the trot without any problem. But if he was to do that, he wouldn’t be capable of playing at the same level for the remaining fifteen games during which we are fighting for trophies.’ The gaffer’s global perspective is understandable, the decision to be sparing with his new millionaire purchase, to protect him, to ensure that he is fresh for when the games get harder, but it turns out, in fact, that El Niño ruins all the plans. He is too important for the team, both in the league and in the Champions League.

In early December, in spite of the injury, he’s already scored twelve goals in all competitions. And three of them are heavyweight ones in the Champions League. They also serve to give new vigour to a manager under pressure from criticism, a lot of bad results and his dispute with the club’s American bosses, Tom Hicks and George Gillett. Heavyweight goals that have helped the numerous protests in support of Rafa that are seen on the streets of Liverpool at the end of November – Reds fans with his image on posters saying ‘Keep Rafa’ and even ‘
No pasarán
’ (‘They shall not pass’ – a famous rallying-call from the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War to rally resistance against the fascist Franco uprising). The stormy waters grow calm and the debate goes back to concentrating on football. In the English papers, a photomontage of Fernando appears with a sharpened nose and a pencil moustache, all underlined with a quote from Steven Gerrard: ‘He reminds me of Rush.’ Yes, the Welshman and the lad from Fuenlabrada hold each other in high regard. In just a few months, a mutual respect has been formed. Perhaps because both of them took on a lot of responsibilities early, both of them are shy, speak little, do not brag and eschew glamour in favour of old friends and family life. Torres says of Gerrard: ‘He is the best, or one
of the best, in the world. Never I play with a footballer of his level. It’s a pleasure to do so. It’s not only the interaction that works between us. Gerrard is able to give you the ball where you want it. He allows you to exploit to the full his qualities while improving your own game.’ Gerrard says simply of Torres: ‘I wouldn’t change him for any other striker in the world.’ A very special chemistry, which Ian Rush speaks of as well: ‘This interaction between Torres and Gerrard – the same thing happened between me and Kenny Dalglish. It’s almost telepathic. Torres makes the defenders work, he keeps them pinned back and he doesn’t hide like other foreign players. He’s strong and has adapted quickly. Drogba and Henry needed a whole season. If he can get twenty or twenty-five goals, we can win the Premier League.’

The dream of the Liverpool ex-Number 9 is the same as all the side’s supporters – to win the league, which for nineteen years has escaped them. The idea is simple: getting a striker that they’ve not seen the likes of since the time of Michael Owen or better, Robbie Fowler, means the unattainable goal becomes possible. It’s a pity that, in the end, Torres surpasses all the predictions but Liverpool end up fourth in the league.

Putting that to one side, one can see the progress of the youngster who has so impressed everyone through his ability to adapt in comparison with the strikers who, as Rush says, have taken a season to understand how things work. After the Christmas holidays that Fernando spends with his family, who have come over from Spain loaded with products from his home country, including everything from ham to olive oil (this The Kid is not giving up), a new crown arrives in early January. In a poll on the club website, the fans of Liverpool elect him as the Best Young Footballer under 23 years of age in Rafa Benítez’s 2007 squad. And some days later there’s also the nomination of Best Player
of the Team in the month of December. It’s the third time that Fernando wins it, after first securing it in August and September, before ceding it to Steven Gerrard in October and November. Recognition of his achievements arrives not only from the fans. He is a member of the ‘Ideal Eleven’ chosen by various European sports magazines.

February – an incredible month. He gets injured during the international friendly with France but returns in time for the last sixteen away leg of the Champions League against Inter Milan to bamboozle Marco Materazzi, the Inter and Italy defender also known for being on the receiving end of Zinedine Zidane’s headbutt in the final of the Germany World Cup. He gets his second hat-trick, swelling his quota to 21 goals (fifteen in the league). In the Premier League classification for effectiveness, he is in third position, with a goal every 118 minutes played. Numbers and results that also bring him the Barclays prize for the best player of the month. But the most sought-after tribute, the most affectionate, the most unforgettable, the one that endorses once and for all, the special relationship with the fans, comes from the Kop. A song specially for him, like the greats of the past and present have had. At Anfield they start to sing the Armband song. They dug up the story of the Atlético captain’s armband and made it their own. A song that makes Fernando emotional – as his playing makes his team-mates emotional. The Dutchman, Dirk Kuyt, declares: ‘It’s incredible to have scored so many goals in his first season in England. He’s getting them in the league and in Europe and is doing a great job for the team. The rest of the players think that he’s going to score in every match and the way things are going, one gets the impression that’s what is going to happen.’

In March, another hat-trick and one of those goals that one doesn’t forget easily. In the San Siro, against Inter, he
receives a deep pass from Fabio Aurelio in the 64th minute, controls the ball, then, with a half-turn on the edge of the area, fires it inside the near post, where, despite a desperate final stretch, Inter keeper Julio Cesar cannot reach it. It seals the team’s passage through to the quarter-finals. It’s a trademark goal. Control, half-turn, shoot and goal. El Niño will repeat the same move against Arsenal in April to ensure Liverpool reach the Champions League semi-finals. ‘He turned with the speed of a reptile to deal Almunia a venomous blow,’ writes
La Gazzetta dello Sport
. And
Corriere della Sera
adds: ‘He created a work of art, leaving Frenchman Gallas dumbfounded like an absolute novice.’ Two goals, one more attractive than the other. Difficult to choose which is the best. The
Guardian,
simply suggests watching them a million times over.

And just before the double encounter with Arsenal, Torres goes through his first test in English. He’d promised he would, months before, and keeps to his word. He was being a bit ambitious to try it even in the corridors of Anfield, one to one with a British journalist, but to take on an important press conference organised by UEFA in the full public eye is not an everyday event for anyone. However, the youngster proves he’s on the ball. He doesn’t speak BBC English but he holds his own. This time the translator is there just to help him with the harder questions. Rafa Benítez is at his side and looks on proudly like the father of a boy who has just got the best report in his class. ‘Twenty-eight goals scored … a target to reach before the end of the season?’ they ask him. He replies: ‘Is my best season. I’m scoring a lot of goals, my target is score goals but I don’t have one number of goals. I want to help my team-mate to win trophies but scoring goals is the job of the striker. I’m only doing my job.’

It’s that simple, he’s only doing his job. Even if nothing takes away the fact that the first person to be surprised by the statistics of his first season at Liverpool is himself. He confesses as much, shrugging his shoulders almost to excuse himself, like a child whose mother has caught him sticking his hand in a jar of jam. Torres is humble but in the meantime the recognitions pour in. He is amongst the candidates for the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award. A title that goes to Cristiano Ronaldo. But it’s interesting to hear what Gordon Taylor, PFA Chief Executive, has to say about Torres: ‘There have been many great Number 9s in Liverpool and this season he has followed in that tradition, responding brilliantly to what was a great challenge, which speaks clearly of his strength of character and skill.’

In May, by then out of the Champions League – despite his away leg semi-final goal in the match against Chelsea – there is still the Premier League to finish off. The last game is at White Hart Lane, then the home of manager, Juande Ramos, the Spaniard who had won the Carling Cup against Chelsea and thereby taken the team into Europe. The match doesn’t feature much of interest, Benítez’s side win 0-2 and Torres scores league goal Number 24. He becomes the foreign player with the highest number of goals scored in his debut season. He beats the record of Ruud van Nistelrooy. The Dutchman had set the mark with 23 goals (including four penalties) in 32 games during the 2001–02 season on his debut with Manchester United. Ruud, whose arrival from PSV Eindhoven was an inspired gamble by Sir Alex Ferguson, in spite of a knee problem, demonstrated his class in the first of five seasons with the Red Devils before leaving for Real Madrid. Benítez’s gamble also pays off with 33 goals across all competitions. Third place in the Premier League top-scorer list behind Cristiano Ronaldo (31) and Emmanuel Adebayor (24).

Then comes the prize for the Reds’ best player and best striker, chosen by the supporters. And, in Madrid, they give him the Man of the Year award, which is received in his absence by José, his father. In-between all these honours there is also the Nike TV commercial, which lights up Liverpool with the colours of Spain. The Osborne bull dominates the motorway exit, ships on the Mersey fly the red and yellow flag, students are learning Spanish, the fish and chip shops offer ‘All Day Tapas’, giant paella pans are on sale, flamenco is the dance schools’ favourite, The Cavern becomes The Caverna and youngsters playing football in the park offer their thanks to Torres with a ‘
Gracias
, mate.’ Fernando, in red jacket with his boxer dog on a leash, goes off smiling and looking pleased with himself. That’s how he appears in a commercial but it’s also the reality. At Liverpool, the lad who has come from Madrid is happy. He says so and repeats it in many interviews. With the Reds, he’s enjoying his football like never before. In the city of the Beatles, he’s discovered a winning mentality. He speaks of how his team-mates ‘do not go out on to the pitch hoping that they’ll win or praying for victory. They really expect to win. They have so much faith in their ability that they simply don’t consider the possibility of any other result.’

Something new for him. Just as the football experience in England is enjoyable and new: ‘The fans are with your team to the death, win or lose. They are always behind their side and at away games as well. Normally in Spain, when you are substituted there is a huge amount of whistling yet here the crowd stand up and applaud you!’ And then there is Benítez, the manager who pampers him and teaches him new things each day, and there is the captain who is showing him what it means to be the team leader at a great club.

To sum up, he is enthusiastic about the choice he has made. Because at Liverpool, freed from the game he played
at Atlético, he doesn’t feel like a star who has to deal with everything – the good and the bad – but just an important player along with lots of others. The only regret is that he’s had to leave his country, because in Spain they realised what he was worth. A month later, the fresh respect of the Spaniards will become devotion and eternal gratitude.