by Luca Caioli
In a list of the world’s best strikers, where would you put 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.’
Which areas?
‘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.’
Who does Torres resemble?
‘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.’
Torres said some time ago that in a few years, to complete his career, he would like to play in Italy and try Serie A. What do you think of that?
‘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.’
Talking of national sides, how do you view the chances of champions Torres & Co. in the next World Cup?
‘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”).’
Chapter 30
Manchester United 1 Liverpool 4
14 March 2008
Good afternoon and welcome to Old Trafford …
The stadium is full and we have just been informed that there is a crowd of 75,569. This match tops the bill for the 29th day of action in the Premier League. The meeting is due to kick off shortly, at 12.45pm. Top of the table Manchester United are playing host to the Reds, who are joint third in the overall standings along with Guus Hiddink’s Chelsea on 58 points, seven adrift of United, who have a game in hand (Portsmouth). If Sir Alex Ferguson’s men win today, they move ten points ahead of Liverpool and could wrap up the league, or almost. They are clear favourites. They have had a run of eleven wins on the trot, let in only two goals in the last sixteen games and have booked their place in the semi-finals of the Champions League without too much trouble by seeing off Inter Milan in the quarter-finals. The Reds come into this vital match with their morale running very high following a convincing Champions League victory on Tuesday against Real Madrid. Here their last chances for a tilt at the league are at stake. If they manage to cut the distance from the leaders they could open up the fight for the title again. Will the effort from the match against the men in white weigh against them? It may well do, but Benítez’s wards will give it their best shot to come out on top at a ground where Liverpool has not won since 2004, when Gérard Houllier was on the bench. Rafa has never walked away as the winner from the Theatre of Dreams.
The bad news for the Merseyside team is the absence of Xabi Alonso, who won’t be able to lay down the law in midfield. He is replaced by Lucas Leiva. For the other side Dimitar Berbatov settles into the dugout, while ‘The Apache’ Tévez starts. Let’s have a look at the line-ups announced:
Manchester United: Van der Sar, O’Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Ronaldo, Carrick, Anderson, Park, Rooney, Tévez. Subs: Foster, Berbatov, Giggs, Nani, Scholes, Evans, Fletcher.
Liverpool: Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Skrtel, Aurelio, Mascherano, Lucas, Kuyt, Gerrard, Riera, Torres. Subs: Cavalieri, Dossena, Hyypia, Babel, Insúa, Ngog, El Zhar.
Referee: Alan Wiley
The players are coming out onto the pitch now, Manchester in their traditional red shirts and Liverpool in grey.
Álvaro Aberloa isn’t there among the Reds. He has had physical problems in the warm-up. Sami Hyypia takes his position and Carragher will play in the right back berth. A position he doesn’t really take to, if the truth be told.
The game gets underway.
2nd minute
Wayne Rooney seems to be all fired up. He is dangerous in the Red Devils’ first couple of attacks. Carragher looks uneasy opposite ‘Bad Boy’.
3rd minute
From over on the right Cristiano Ronaldo feeds a ball in for Ji-Sung Park but the Korean’s shot is cut out by Carragher – corner. Manchester United is producing some good football and playing well.
6th minute
Liverpool make inroads for the first time, Torres chasing up an extremely long ball. Rio Ferdinand checks on the edge of Manchester’s box.
21st minute
Torres swerves brilliantly with one touch and gets away from Ferdinand on the edge of the penalty area – a touch of genius. For a moment it looks like a goal, but Vidic and O’Shea don’t let him finish off the move.
22nd minute
A penalty to Manchester. Park chases a ball down the inside-left channel and into the box. Reina races out and slides towards Park’s feet. Park runs into the prone keeper and tumbles over.
23rd minute
GOAL, CRISTIANO RONALDO! MANCHESTER UNITED 1 LIVERPOOL 0
The man from Portugal is unforgiving from the spot. He shoots right-footed and low, just inside the left post. Reina guesses right but doesn’t get there.
28th minute
GOAL, TORRES! MANCHESTER UNITED 1 LIVERPOOL 1
Liverpool seem punch-drunk after the goal and unable to respond to the moves made by the Red Devils. It would be fair to say they haven’t put a foot right for five minutes and then the most amazing thing happens. Martin Skrtel frees things up in his area and hits a really long ball forward. Vidic scampers towards his goalmouth, allows the ball to bounce, and lets Fernando steal it off him – El Niño is off. Van der Sar rushes out to close up the angle but Torres keeps an extremely cool head and beats him on the run with an accurate finish into the left-hand corner of the Dutchman’s goal. Fantastic work from The Kid. Game on.
31st minute
Torres once more against the unfortunate Vidic, who appears not to have a clue how to handle the fair-haired Spanish striker. First he forces him to clear for a corner and next up he heads past him (cross from Fabio Aur
elio), slips into the penalty area and the Serbian defender stops him by stretching the rule-book to the limit.
34th minute
Cristiano Ronaldo blasts a free-kick from miles out and Reina almost makes a howler. He manages to get his hands round the ball after fumbling, just before Tévez arrives …
36th minute
Yellow card for Jamie Carragher for going in dangerously.
37th minute
Rio Ferdinand goes yellow for a dangerous tackle.
41st minute
Torres releases Riera on the left into the Manchester 6-yard box. Ferdinand gets there in the nick of time to sweep clear.
43rd minute
Penalty to Liverpool. The Kid takes the ball outside the penalty area and when the United central defenders come out to get him he does a half-turn and slides in a perfect pass between the lines for Gerrard who is in the area. It is all Evra can do to stop the captain by fouling him.
44th minute
Yellow card for Edwin Van der Sar for protesting.
44th minute
GOAL, GERRARD! MANCHESTER UNITED 1 LIVERPOOL 2
Van der Sar just manages to touch the ball but the shot from the Reds’ captain is well-placed and struck hard.
45th minute +3
Gerrard again. His thunderbolt is cleared by O’Shea. Manchester United reply in the shape of Tévez, who wins a corner. Nothing actually happens as the referee blows for half-time.
Half-time
An exciting game with no let up in play. Liverpool are deservedly ahead and have read the game well.
The second half gets under way.
48th minute
Cross by Ronaldo and the ball squirms away from Reina and hits the post.
49th minute
Torres collides with Tévez and has damaged his already injured ankle, but he seems able to play on.
59th minute
United dominate play and buzz the Liverpool penalty area, but they aren’t creating too much danger.
60th minute
A yellow for Javier Mascherano.
64th minute
Yellow card for Skrtel for fouling Tévez.
66th minute
Gerrard leads the first attacking move from Liverpool in the second half. It ends with a shot by Leiva from the edge of the box. Van der Sar fields it.
68th minute
A Liverpool change – Andrea Dossena comes on for Albert Riera.
71st minute
Great chance for United – Tévez almost manufactures a goal out of a dead ball in the area.
73rd minute
Triple substitution by Manchester United. Anderson, Ji-Sung Park and Michael Carrick are replaced by Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Dimitar Berbatov.
76th minute
Vidic is red-carded. As with the Torres goal, the United defender is beaten by the ball. Gerrard breaks away on his own and the Serbian has no choice but to grab him and throw him to the ground. There’s no arguing about the referee’s decision.
77th minute
GOAL, AURELIO! MANCHESTER UNITED 1 LIVERPOOL 3
A sweet shot from Fabio Aurelio that goes right in the block-hole. That’s how to shoot free-kicks! The Brazilian master-fully converts the foul given away by Vidic for pulling.
78th minute
Torres tries a deep pass to his skipper. But Gerrard is caught offside.
79th minute
Torres tries to catch Van der Sar out from the centre of the pitch, but the shot strays very high and to the left.
81st minute
Second change by Liverpool. Fernando Torres goes off and Ryan Babel comes on.
Nine minutes later, Fernando smiles and celebrates Liverpool’s fourth on the bench – a masterly effort by Andrea Dossena. As he did against Madrid, the Italian brings the Reds’ cracking game to a close. The score-line is 1-4. Amazing – the statistics say as much.
The last time United let in four goals at home was New Year’s Day 1992 against Queens Park Rangers. Liverpool’s 4-1 win is the second biggest since November 1936, when the Reds won 5-2. And while we’re on the subject of statistics, it should be remembered that this is Rafa Benítez’s 100th win since he arrived in the Premier. But the main thing is that the league is still open.
‘They think it’s all over … it isn’t now’ runs the headline in the Sunday Times, above a huge photo of Torres battling it out with Vidic. Torres, together with Gerrard, is the hero of Old Trafford – the star of Liverpool’s big week. Two wins and eight goals scored in five days. The Reds’ captain pays tribute to his team-mate: ‘He’s magic. He’s the world’s greatest striker and a lot of people probably agree with me.’ And he’s right. Plaudits from all sides are fantastic. Let’s leave the English and the Spanish to one side, as they are too closely involved here, and see what Giancarlo Galavotti writes in La Gazzetta dello Sport: ‘The lethal weapon is always the same: Fernando Torres. Simply wonderful, El Niño surprises and wipes out the opposition with an undeniable show of class and power. After Madrid he also humiliates Manchester. The panel of the Golden Ball should be alert to this.’ Nothing more to say. Steve Gerrard, though, does chime in with something: ‘Liverpool can win the Premier League. If we carry on like this from now on, we’ve got a chance to walk away with the title, and Fernando Torres is the key to doing it.’
It wouldn’t be the first time. March 1998 – United has an eleven-point lead over Blackburn and twelve over Arsenal and Liverpool. It seems they’ve got the League title in the bag. Final standings: Arsenal 78, Manchester United 77. The Gunners win ten games on the trot and crown themselves champions with two games in hand. This time there are nine games to go, but it seems there’s a chance. Even more so when, a week on, United lose to Fulham. Two defeats in a row – something that hasn’t happened since 2005. At Liverpool, who have just given Aston Villa a 5-0 thrashing, they are convinced the Red Devils are feeling the heat. But after their two routs, Ferguson’s men hit the accelerator and don’t let up right to the end.
On Saturday, 16 May, United win their third League in a row, their 18th. They draw level with Liverpool in number of trophies won and leave the Merseyside team with a bad taste in their mouths. They’ve lost fewer times than the Red Devils (two versus four times), have netted more goals (72 versus 67), but in the end they are second in the overall standings, and four points adrift of the champions. Their high draw-rate has cost them dear. It is nineteen years since the Reds have lifted the league trophy. Another season over without silverware. In the Champions League Liverpool came up against Chelsea in the semis, in a duel that, in England over the last few years, has become as much a custom as tea or rain. They were eliminated in a night to remember, an eight-goal thriller – an unbelievable game, as the English press wrote, following the 4-4 dénouement at Stamford Bridge. They praised the pluck and pride of the Reds, one step away from changing history, one step away from turning round a 1-3 result from the home match, one step away from winning the mother of all battles, as the Guardian wrote. But in the end the Champions’ dream faded away.
Fernando has scored two goals in Europe’s team championship. In the league he has netted fourteen goals, five less than top-scorer Nicolas Anelka of Chelsea. Whenever on the pitch he has been decisive. It’s just a shame that bad luck hasn’t given him a better strike-rate. This is something Gerrard also sees as an unhappy circumstance: ‘The frustrating thing for both of us is that we haven’t been together more times on the pitch this season.’ It’s true. The awesome partnership (28 goals) has only been together on the pitch for twelve out of 36 Premier matches. ‘Let’s hope,’ says Stevie G. on the club’s official web-site, ‘that next season we are ready to give Liverpool the best chance of success. We both feel that if we are both clicking, we can cause defences loads of problems. We both enjoy playing with each other and we can both either score goals or set them up for each other.’ Fernando is also hopeful about next season: ‘Winning the Premier League will be our big objective again. We will fight fo
r the title again by looking to win at home more regularly against the teams that are more winnable in theory. As we have seen this season, they choked us. I reckon Manchester United and Chelsea will be our main rivals, though we can’t rule out Arsenal either, or Manchester City. I hope that this year we will achieve what all the fans expect from us’.
Chapter 31
You’d be happy if your daughter brought him home
Conversation with former Liverpool player and manager, Graeme Souness
He’s hardly arrived in the United States before he’s already on his way to Rome. The ex-Liverpool captain is going back to the Eternal City, where, on 30 May 1984, he held aloft Liverpool’s fourth European Cup. The final trophy of an impressive season, which also saw them win the league championship and the League Cup and the first under manager, Joe Fagan, who had replaced Bob Paisley.