Fernando Torres

Fernando’s interview for “Al Primer Toque” - _17.06.2013

_{“I've met many footballers through my career and he’s one of the best there is, if not the best, when it comes to interviews. He’s so transparent, his words so sincere and his demeanor so confident.” – Hector Fernandez, Spanish radio host, on Fernando Torres.}

_{On Mourinho saying he’s been ‘so-so’ and what’s next for him at Chelsea:}

_{“In many ways it’s true. And there have been a lot of factors involved that have made it that way, from the style of playing, the pressure, my own struggles as a player, to how much it was payed for me, what I had accomplished before… the statistics aren’t the way they used to be, and believe me, I was the first person who noticed it and was conscious of it and did everything in my power to change it. I was aware that everyone expected much better of me precisely because I expected much better of myself. Team-wise, it hasn’t been so bad because of the titles we’ve won, but on a personal level I know I’ve got much more to offer. At the end of the day, the only thing that will make you be wherever you want to be is yourself and what you ask of yourself, your work, effort and sacrifice.}

_{At the moment, Chelsea hasn’t come up to me and said they don’t want or need my services anymore. Our relationship is very open and straight forward in that sense. I have three years left in my contract and I hope I can see them out. Mourinho will surely have a say regarding the players that will sign for the club next season, and regarding the ones that will leave. He’s said he will speak to us once the tournament is over and I’m looking forward to having that conversation very much, to know what he has in store for me. I’m looking forward to explain to him my outlook on things and my point of view, and I can only hope that he does have something in store for me.”}

_{On Rafa Benitez:}

_{“Fortunately, we had a great end of the season, we all did: Rafa, the players, the supporters. And he hasn’t had it easy you know? Not in the least bit, and his circumstances at the club ended up affecting us all. It was a very awkward and uncomfortable situation for every one of us, mainly due to the reactions he got from the supporters… it affected us negatively. We had a hard time finding our feet after coming back from the Club World Cup and… well, it really was very uncomfortable. Because of our past relationship and the years we’d spend together I was obviously being linked to him all the time, and at one point I felt swamped by the waves of hatred and rejection coming his way. He was only there to try to make the best of a complicated situation and to give his all for the team, he never thought of anyone else but the team. I hope people were able to see that in the end, and that their opinion of him changed for the better.”}

_{On Atlético De Madrid:}

_{“I have no reason to hide where I belong to or where I come from. Everyone is perfectly aware of what Atleti means for me and what we mean for each other. I’m enjoying of this new era of progress as a supporter, just like any other. But like I said the other day, Atleti doesn’t need anyone to re-vindicate them or to make them feel important because they do it by themselves just fine. One thing is clear, our love will last forever.”}

_{On Barcelona:}

_{“Summer has arrived and that only means the press will be full of rumors and half-truths. The article that was published in Sport was the result of a very specific interpretation by the journalist who wrote it. I only said that if true, I appreciated Barcelona’s interested and admitted that Rossell and I have been familiar with each other since I was very young and had a contract with Nike. That’s that. If there’s a concrete interest by them I am in no way aware of it, but nevertheless I appreciate it as they’re one of the best, if not the best team in the world at the moment. And if there’s an interest it might be the one that has existed since I played for Atlético. But frankly, I don’t see myself playing for them or even considering the possibility.”}

_{On the national team:}

_{“Some people on the team, myself included, have experienced it all: the ups and downs, the times where we didn’t win anything, the times when we started finding our feet and now, now where we just can’t stop winning. When you’ve lived through that kind of change, you value every minute on the pitch much more, as you’re completely aware of everything it took to get there, and you must enjoy it as much as you can because it’s inevitable it will all end someday. Before this golden generation of footballers reached its full potential, we’d faced and overcame too much disappointments and criticism, and I think that played a large role in us becoming the team we are now. It made us better, stronger.”}

_{“Although winning is the most important thing and we’d all be willing to give up our playing style in order to win, it’s beyond clear that when you’re able to come out victorious playing under such a clear, remarkable style, the way you’ve been taught it’s right to win and the way you feel like you should win, the feeling is indescribable.”}

_{On his struggles:}

_{“There were times when the only thing I could do was to canalize my frustration and sadness into self-criticism and self-commitment. It’s absolutely worthless  to blame others or to accept your situation without doing anything to try to change it. If I wasn’t called up two or three months ago it was because there were people who where undoubtedly doing far better than me, who were miles ahead of me in terms of performances. I knew I had to ask much more of myself if I wanted to return.”}

_{“You compromised your physical integrity to make it to the 2010 World Cup…”}

_{“That’s the only thing I could do at the time, my only option. I knew that tournament was meant to be ours, and if it had to come to that kind of sacrifice for me to get there, then so be it. I payed for the consequences later, there’s no doubt about it, although it would be somewhat opportunistic of me to say I payed for them on a physical level only, as if to try to excuse my struggles. The truth is that the physical problems only lasted a couple of months, but the psychological and emotional consequences were much bigger”.}

_{“I’ve grown up a lot as a player and as a person in equal amounts because of what football has given me and what’s taken away from me. This, all of it, will end someday, it’d be impossible for it to last forever, and I can only try to make the best of it.”}

_{Do you think you’re still missing that one fantastic game with the national team? The one that finally makes you recover all the confidence you’ve been missing? The one that will make people say “now that is Fernando Torres”?}

_{“The thing is that pretty much everyone in this team has the ability to perform and shine in every match they play. There’s people like Xavi, Andrés, Busquets… they shine every time, every day, and it’s difficult to feel part of that, to participate. But yes, of course I’d love to have that kind of match, the one where I can shine like they do and get the so-called confidence back.”}

_(x)

the-wild-trapeze:

Fernando’s fuckface is just killing me… ugh 

fifa13yeah:

Remember this back in 2011? Torres’ first goal scored for Chelsea against West Ham! It was truly a beautiful moment!