- Full Name: Fernando José Torres Sanz
- Date of Birth: March 20, 1984 (age 25)
- Place of Birth: Madrid, Spain
- Height: 1.86 m
- Nickname: El Nino (The Kid), The Eagle
- Position: Striker
- Current club: Liverpool
Atletico Madrid, the first club for Torres sent an under-15 team to compete in the Nike Cup. Atletico won the tournament and Torres was voted the best player in Europe for the age group. There has not been a looking back for Torres ever after.
He moved on to Liverpool in 2007 and that meant more exposure to European football. His first appearance in the Champions League saw Liverpool defeating Toulouse 1-0. Torres scored his first Premier League goal against Chelsea and his first hat-trick against Reading in the League Cup. He went on to score hat-tricks against Middlesbrough and Westham. In all he scored 29 goals that season eclipsing the record of Michael Owen for Liverpool.
The year also saw him being short listed for the Players’ Player of the Year award, which was eventually won by Cristiano Ronaldo. In 2008-09, Torres was short listed for the FIFA World Player of the Year and came out third behind Ronaldo and Messi.
He has been in excellent touch in the current season too, being named Player of the Month for September 2009.
Torres made his first appearance for Spain in 2003. He scored seven goals in 11 appearances in qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. And in the first ever appearance in the Cup finals, he scored three goals to top the table for Spain along with Villa. |
