Alvaro Morata a worthy heir to Fernando Torres as Chelsea’s beloved No. 9
Alvaro Morata garnered many comparisons to Fernando Torres when he signed with Chelsea. Morata should take those as a compliment and a motivation, contrary to common misconceptions about Torres’ time in Blue.
After Chelsea missed out on signing Romelu Lukaku during the fractious summer transfer window, and with Diego Costa consigned to the history books, doubts arose as to where the goals would come from in Antonio Conte’s second season with the club. The chaos that the media then inflicted on the club throughout the summer, with various tales of unrest, painted a picture of a club in serious trouble. There were – supposedly – arguments over a lack of signings, or the wrong signings or a succession of players who just did not want to sign for the club.
Instead, Alvaro Morata has hit the ground running at Chelsea. Six Premier League appearances by the Spaniard have produced a return of six goals.
Chelsea travel to Spain this week to take on Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, where they will face one of their former strikers, Fernando Torres. Comparisons between Morata and Fernando Torres are inevitable. Torres arrived in January 2011 after he submitted a transfer request. Like Morata, Fernando Torres arrived at Chelsea as the club’s record signing. In fact, he was the most expensive Premier League player ever at that point.
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Despite the negative hype in the press, Fernando Torres’ stats during his subsequent time at Chelsea were pretty good. Even though he never reached the so-called heights we are led to believe he achieved at Liverpool, Torres did more at Chelsea than he is given credit for.
Outsiders took tremendous pleasure from Torres’ perceived disastrous spell in London. It was almost as if he could never be allowed to be successful anywhere other than Liverpool.
Regarded only as a Liverpool player, Torres made more appearances for Chelsea than he did while at Anfield. He wore a blue shirt 172 times and a red one just 142. He had more minutes of playing time with the Blues. At Liverpool his goal ratio was better, but his time in London produced more assists. His goal-plus-assist total for Chelsea was 88, at Liverpool it was 101.
He impacted over half the games he played in for Chelsea. His individual stats were better at Liverpool, but perhaps the most telling stat of all is his trophy haul. While with Chelsea he won the Champions League, Europa League, Premier League, and the FA Cup. His Liverpool trophy haul was a big fat zero, yet his time at Liverpool is deemed more fruitful.
To ridicule Torres for his time at Stamford Bridge is ridiculous. He may have struggled with injuries, which resulted in a spiraling lack of confidence. However, Chelsea fans loved Torres. They were as desperate for him to succeed as he was himself. There were times when their support was tested, but ultimately they stuck by him.
Liverpool fans and those who write about the great game could not bear for “their Nando” to be a hero elsewhere. But who could forget Torres picking the ball up against Barcelona in the 2012 Champions League semi-final and rounding Victor Valdes to score and secure Chelsea’s spot in the final?
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The Chelsea fans who travel to Madrid’s new Wanda Metropolitano stadium on Wednesday evening will show their appreciation for Fernando Torres as much as they will for new boy Alvaro Morata. On the other hand, for one Brazilian-born, Spanish international who will not be on the pitch, the acknowledgement received from the away end may be a tad more muted.