Just days after completing his loan move to Atletico Madrid, Fernando Torres is set to start and make his second debut for his boyhood club almost eight years after he left. Torres is not making his debut as a substitute in a league match or in a domestic cup match against lower league opposition. Instead he is making his debut against the hated local rivals Real Madrid in what will surely be a feisty Copa Del Rey match up.
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Torres has only been a member of the Atletico squad for a little over a week and he may be rusty considering he has not had much match time at AC Milan. He was limited to only 10 appearances in half a season for Milan and has not played for them since the end of November. Despite this, his manager Diego Simeone has faith in the veteran striker and he told the Daily Mail that “if he didn’t think was ready I wouldn’t put him in”. He continued and said of Torres, “I have good memories of him. When we were both players we got on very well. So much happened to him at a very young age, now he is 30 but he still has the desire and the enthusiasm”.
Simeone must have great faith in Fernando Torres if he is willing to take a chance with him in such a big match against a very tough opponent. The Argentine manager did temper some expectations by saying that Torres “has not come as the saviour” but the thousands of fans chanting his name at the Vicente Calderon may think differently. Perhaps that is why Simeone chose this match to start Torres, to give him the emotional boost of having the whole stadium chanting his name and hopefully singing his praises.
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The storybook ending, or rather beginning, for Fernando’s return would be for him to score an important goal against the local rivals. If this was a Hollywood script he would score the winning goal at the 90th minute through a breakaway or penalty and send the Atletico Madrid faithful in to delirium.
We all know that real life is not a movie and Torres has not been star of the show for quite some time now. What is more realistic and more hopeful would be for him to put in a good shift, show flashes of his ability, and remind the world that he was once an excellent striker even for just a few moments here and there.
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