Torres (20 page)
Liverpool had won by putting a perfect plan into action. As Mascherano and Arbeloa explained, the match went according to the prepared script: ‘We subdued Higuaín and Robben, the only two with speed and the ability to overlap. Now we’ve done the hard part,’ said the Argentinian.
‘We knew the match could be decided with a corner or a penalty or a counter-attack and that’s what we were able to do. This is how we’ve played knockout ties for years,’ explained the Spaniard. Rafa Benítez could put on a relaxed face at the press conference. Before anything else, the exmanager of Real Madrid B denied the rumours circulating before the game that he had already handed in his resignation to the Liverpool club owners. William Hill and Sky Bet had been forced to suspend all wagers on Benítez, after too many punters had put their money on the manager no longer being in charge from the following Monday. He calmed the waters saying that his lawyers had been negotiating and that he would be talking personally with Tom Hincks and George Gillett. Once that subject was cleared up, the Liverpool manager went on to explain: ‘We had in mind to play a very defensive game and to come out on the counter-attack. This we did and it worked for us with the goal from Benayoun. We have a very important win, although the tie isn’t over. There are still 90 very difficult minutes left and we will have to concentrate at all times.’ Benítez could also derive personal satisfaction – both as a Spaniard and as a
manager – for sending out a team in the Bernabéu with five more Spanish players than Madrid: ‘chorreo? (referring to the word ‘chorrear’, used by Real Madrid president Vicente Boluda)
.
Experience suggests that one should talk on the pitch and my players have done that very well in the name of Liverpool. I am very proud.’ Of Torres, he added: ‘He was very affected by his ankle and we decided to take him off when he couldn’t go on. I don’t think he’ll be able to play on Saturday either.’
From there, it went like this: against second-from-bottom Middlesbrough, The Kid didn’t play and the Reds lost 2-0, which allowed Chelsea into second place and they went six points behind Manchester United. Torres still wasn’t fit, even for the game on 3 March at Anfield against Sunderland (2-0 for Liverpool). The injury wasn’t improving as rapidly as everyone had been expecting. The ankle continued to cause problems but the Number 9 was optimistic he’d be there for the return against Real. He was certain it would be a difficult match, despite the away-goal advantage. You have to beware of Real, he said, they’ll want to come out and kill off the game as quickly as possible to secure their passage to the next round. He said he wasn’t surprised at the welcome he got in the Bernabéu and had been expecting it. ‘They’ve always been like that to me when I’ve played there. They even whistled at me in a friendly when I was playing in a World XI. In England, they’re not so hard on you. There are rivalries there as well but the fans are more respectful. There are different ways of understanding football,’ he explained and added that whatever the atmosphere at the Bernabéu, ‘it’s nothing compared to Anfield. I don’t think there’s a stadium like ours anywhere else in the world’.
He was right. The 3,000 followers of Madrid that fill the Anfield Road Stand on 10 March at 7.45pm realise it too as the teams come out onto the pitch. They understand what
it is, the atmosphere one breathes in at this ‘fortress’, this temple of football. The 20,000-strong Kop are all on their feet, singing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ and holding their red-and-white scarves above their heads. They wave flags carrying images of Bill Shankly with open arms, of Bob Paisley, of Rafa Benítez with the inscription (in Spanish), ‘Siempre se puede’ (‘It’s always possible’), and a silhouette of Fernando Torres celebrating a goal. The Kid is on the field, the physios have fixed him up, even though – as we will know later – he is playing with a bandage and plaster on his ankle. Three minutes later he shows why the Liverpool fans adore him. A long ball arrives and with a backheel he gets past Fabio Cannavaro to put himself one-on-one with Casillas. He hits it hard towards the near post but the keeper denies him once more with the tip of his foot. It is the first indication of what The Kid and Company will do and it is the perfect example of the class, elegance, movement and speed of a player who has magic and, above all, who wants to play a central role and win.
In the subsequent minutes, Torres and his team-mates seem possessed, moving at top speed, laying siege to the Madrid goal from all possible angles. Mascherano powers a shot and Casillas is saved by the crossbar. All long balls from Reina are a problem. Any run from Torres sows panic in the Madrid defence. Liverpool is like a pneumatic drill, breaking down its opponents. The Reds are following Ian Rush’s advice in the
Liverpool Echo
. The headline of his weekly column before the game reads: ‘Attack is best form of defence for the Reds. We can’t afford to sit back in Anfield clash.’ Rafa Benítez surprises his adversaries with the same strategy he had used years before with Juventus. Juande, who, like so many others, was expecting a team that would gamble on keeping its one goal advantage from the first leg, is completely wrong-footed. His side are seeing nothing of
the ball. When they do get hold of it they find themselves encircled like the Seventh Cavalry of General Custer at Little Big Horn. They barely have time to look up before the enemy has once again robbed them of the ball. In addition, no one gives up chasing, not even Torres who drops back into his own half to take the ball off Sergio Ramos (to a great roar from the crowd), to take on Lars Diarra, to tackle Gago, to fight for every high ball with Pepe, to harass ex-Manchester United defender, Heinze (who will become the villain of the night, picked on by the crowd every time he touches the ball).
In the 16th minute, Anfield explodes. Reina clears to Carragher, who sends the ball high and long. The bounce catches Cannavaro by surprise and he tries to clear with an overhead kick but fails. Torres heads the ball, puts Pepe under pressure, the Portuguese falls to the ground and Kuyt, who’s moved up outside on the right, picks up the ball. Casillas comes out of his goal, El Niño moves to the centre and calls for the Dutchman to give him the ball. A killer move and Torres puts it in the net. Referee Frank De Bleeckere confirms the goal and the lad from Fuenlabrada celebrates by parading his Number 9 under the eyes of the Spanish fans and leaps up high to punch the air. His goal has opened the floodgates. Real are reeling, like a punch-drunk boxer, who in the 10th round still hasn’t understood that the contest is over. In the 47th minute it’s a knockout. Steven Gerrard, with a penalty and then a goal of textbook quality, completes the demolition of the clay-footed giant. At Anfield, Fernando Torres has many things to be satisfied about apart from his goal. Going back to the centre spot after making it 1-0, he turns to the executives’ box containing Real president, Vicente Boluda – who had said that his team would ‘score loads’ in Liverpool – and made the same gesture that Spanish Formula One driver Fernando Alonso
made famous on the Grand Prix winners’ podium: ‘You talk a lot’ was the clear message. The other thorn out of his side was Pepe. The Portuguese defender had declared that it was a pleasure to play against such a powerful striker as Torres and that he knew exactly how to close him down. In the first leg it was clear the duel had begun. In the return, the two end up face-to-face on several occasions and Pepe reminds Torres that Madrid had won nine European Cups. ‘Yes but you, zero,’ replies El Niño, accompanied by an unmistakable zero-shaped hand gesture, similar to what José Mourinho used in Italy when he told Juventus: ‘You have zero titles’.
In the 84th minute, Fernando Torres is replaced by the Italian, Andrea Dossena, who would still find time to score a fourth goal. The
Ultras Sur
took aim but this time the insults are overpowered by the Kop, which belts out the Torres Song full blast.
‘This is Anfield,’ said Fernando in front of the microphones, notebooks and television cameras. ‘A very difficult ground. It’s not just any team that wins here. The fans have given us a real lift.’ And, remembering the controversy of the past, when he played in the red-and-white stripes of Atlético, he went on to explain: ‘As a Liverpool player, I’m happy, but if we’ve also given enjoyment to the fans of Atlético, then so much the better.’
A horse that needs to run
Conversation with Juventus defender and Italy captain, Fabio Cannavaro
Green lawns, white goals in the middle of the pitch, low-flying swallows and empty stands with seats marking out the words ‘Real Madrid’. In the background, an ever-expanding housing development and four new towers of glass and steel, which disappear into the low clouds and darkness of a leaden sky. Real’s training session has finished a short time ago. Behind the huge windows of the press room, on the second floor of the Ciudad Deportiva di Valdebebas sports complex (about 10 miles north of Madrid city centre) journalists are waiting patiently for the appearance, behind the microphones and in front of the red and black sponsor’s background, of the Argentinian, Gonzalo Higuaín.
On the first floor, Fabio Cannavaro, in black leather bomber jacket, blue striped shirt and torn jeans is smiling – a smile that, for about three years, has also won over Madrid. ‘How are you?’ – ‘Well, thanks and you?’ With his piercing blue eyes, the street kid who was a ballboy at the Napoli team’s San Paolo stadium in Naples (in order to see at close hand his idol, Diego Maradona) has come a long way. After Naples, he went to Parma, Inter and Juventus and on into the Italian national side.
Then, in 2006, in Germany, the biggest, most exciting football experience – the World Cup. And as captain of Italy,
raising the trophy aloft in Berlin. Six months later came the European Footballer of the Year trophy (the
Ballon d’Or
) and then the FIFA World Player of the year – an honour in recognition of the defensive skills that only Franz Beckenbauer could previously claim. A prize that showed what is meant by tackling, anticipation, a sliding interception and maximum concentration in an area of the pitch where errors are costly. And in that World Cup summer of 2006, Cannavaro arrived at Real Madrid to don the Number 5 shirt (formerly of Zinédine Zidane) and went on to win two consecutive league titles and a Spanish Supercopa. Good memories of a city and a country, Spain, to which he is now saying farewell in order to return to Turin and Juventus – first as a player and then maybe as a director. These are the last days here in Valdebebas of the central defender, who, the day after the second leg of the knockout Champions League tie against Liverpool at Anfield, was not feeling too great.
Daily Mirror
writes that Torres, in the first chance of the match, goes round you as if you were ‘a Sunday league player, not one of the most decorated men in the game …’
‘Regardless of what the
Mirror
writes, it was a difficult match because they started superbly and we are a team in which, when we don’t play like a team, our errors stand out. And with those spaces, with those strikers, to defend well becomes impossible.’
‘For Torres to play against Real Madrid was something special – a derby. But except in my first year at Madrid, when I was sent off for two yellow cards against him (I never did anything to him but he just started to scream), I never had any problems. He is a striker who takes it and gives it. I’ve
given him some. That’s normal. The only thing I can say is that, in Spain, he had these theatrical habits. Fortunately, in England, he’s got rid of them. The English don’t accept that kind of thing.’
‘I’ve marked Fernando both in Spain, when he was playing with Atlético, and with the national team and also with Liverpool. If I’m really honest, when he was playing here, I didn’t like him very much.’
‘One could see that he had great potential but he was … a bit soft. He was a player without any “bite” – sporting-wise, you understand? He was a player who worked well with the ball but he went through patches, he wasn’t always at the heart of the game, he wasn’t involved, he wasn’t talking with his team-mates. When I came up against him again in the national team, in the friendly with Spain in March 2008, one could already see the difference. Then with Liverpool, in both the home and away legs, I saw a completely different player.’
‘Mentally, in the way he attacked defenders, in the way he spoke with team-mates. He’s a much stronger player. Before, when you knocked against him, he gave way. Now, that’s difficult, because mentally he’s got much stronger.’
‘It happened to me. I was at Inter and I wasn’t able to train any more or find the right kind of enjoyment or motivation to go out and play. I went to Juve and within two days I changed completely. I met up again with my friends, my
team-mates, in a more family-like atmosphere. I changed the chip – so much so, that in my first year with the
bianconeri
(Juventus) I played 38 games out of 38 and only picked up one yellow card. These are things that happen to a player … Click – you regain your confidence and that of your team-mates and the fans chant your name. I think the same thing has happened to Torres. At Atlético he had all the weight of the team on him, knowing that if he made a mistake and they lost the match, he would be blamed. Going to Liverpool, he is a foreigner, he’s more relaxed, he scores one goal, two, then three … The fans go crazy about him and everything becomes easy. Yes, going to Liverpool has really done him a lot of good.’
‘He’s benefited, for sure, because for Torres it’s much better to play as a lone striker – he can play in various positions along the line of attack. He suffers when he has another striker playing up high alongside him. He’s not a footballer who likes one-twos much. He should play on his own upfront, with Gerrard behind and Kuyt on the right. For him that’s the ideal. But of course English football for him is definitely more rewarding. Here in Spain, it works as one against one, little touches, possession. Torres on the other hand, is a horse that needs space, that needs to run. The more he runs the happier he is and the more his skills come to the fore. The same thing is happening in the national side. We talk a lot about Spain playing an attractive kind of football, putting great value on possession of the ball, it’s true. That’s because the midfield has people like Iniesta, Xavi and Senna – all top-quality players. But if we look again at the goals they scored in Euro 2008, a lot of them were made on the counter-attack – two against Russia, one against Sweden and not forgetting that one of Torres in the final. When I saw the
two German defenders, Lahm and Metzelder, covering the whole pitch – well, quite honestly, I could see what would happen, because when there is space, Torres is going to have a field day. Maybe in a tight area, he’s going to have some difficulty but when he can run and use his strength and speed to its maximum potential, you’re in trouble.’
‘It was a strange match with a peculiar atmosphere. I remember saying “Be careful”, that whoever goes through from this tie will win the championship. Because of the two teams’ mental strengths and their skills on the pitch, it was the most finely balanced of the quarter-finals. It was an encounter where we let them take the game, as always, because we are a team that gives the ball to the opposition. But the best chances fell to us. As for them, yes, they had plenty of possession and they made lots of attempts on goal but they were all off-target. Torres and Villa were invisible in that game. Why? Because we conceded very little space to the strikers and with a pair like Torres and Villa, who are good on the counter-attack, if you limit the depth of area in which they can operate, it makes it much more difficult for them.’
‘Nowadays, it’s no longer like it once was when you attached yourself to a striker and didn’t let him breathe throughout the whole game. I would play a one-against-one but try to minimise it. Today, no. Today one talks of units, and the defensive unit should work in the best possible way, it should be perfectly synchronised like a precision timepiece to close down strikers like Torres.’
‘Amongst the top ones, amongst those who cause panic, such as Drogba, Berbatov and Ruud (Van Nistelrooy). Torres is definitely one of the strongest strikers in Europe – he’s young, he plays in a set-up like Liverpool, he’s in the Spanish national team, and he’s still got so many areas in which to improve.’
‘He should improve his technique in the one-against-one. Torres relies on his speed but when you have a defender in front of you, you have to go past him and not through speed alone. Take Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi or Ronaldo in his better moments. They home in on you, skip past and they’re away. This is still missing in Torres, even if he has the quality and the skills to be able to do it. His best weapons? His bursts of speed, those 10 to 15 metres in which he launches himself at the back of the defender and his overwhelming physical power. Even when he makes a mistake, he gets to the ball ahead of everyone else. Another thing he does that I like is that he doesn’t give up when his opponents have the ball. In the match with Liverpool, for example, I will always remember two recoveries of the ball he made – one from Sergio Ramos and the other from Heinze. There, you really saw the strength of a striker. You saw that he wanted to win. But beyond the goals and the games, it’s an important message to the whole team. He shows the spirit of the centre forward. As a defender, I would like my strikers to be doing that.’
‘Perhaps Ruud Gullit for his running abilities and his strength. I remember Ruud had fantastic acceleration. He
was a player who would start from a long way off and could play at various points along the line of attack.’
‘After his English experience, I think he’d have some difficulties, because of how football is lived in England, because of how it is organised. We (in Italy) are the opposite (to England) – ugly grounds, lots of disputes and fans with little sporting culture. And there they don’t go away from home on training camps. With us, you hardly need to start losing before everyone has to go off to a training camp. Things go badly and immediately they sack the manager. That’s typical Italian-style. I’m Italian, I’m proud of my country and of our football but I have to admit that, today, the English teams have an undeniable superior physical strength, technique and financial backing. The Premier League is the best league in Europe, even if the Italy manager, Marcello Lippi, says that the maximum expression of football is not the (domestic) league, or the Champions League but the national side and, at the moment, the most important national side is Spain.’
‘One can’t deny that they are favourites. They are champions of Europe, they have a generation of fantastic young footballers. But the tournament is outside Europe and the favourites almost never get to the final. The World Cup is another thing altogether, where so many factors depend on the luck of the draw. But certainly, to achieve the run of victories they’ve had, with qualification already in the bag, allows you to have, as they say here, “mas confianza” (“more confidence”).’
