en-prosa:

The umpteenth resurrection of Fernando Torres

“There you have him, lifting yet another trophy. Fernando Torres has proclaimed himself as the winner of the 2013 Europa League final. How many times has he been declared dead at this point, finished beyond repair? And how many times has he proved us wrong? How many times has his talent prevailed above the critics?

Denigrating Torres has become the standard; he’s the object of countless jabs and bickering among Spain’s usual bar attendants and of mockery and petty remarks in the English tabloids. Yet he was one of Chelsea’s main men in the Europa League’s thrilling and beautiful final against Benfica. He culminated his resurrection with one of his trade mark goals; the kind of goal based purely on pace and potency; the kind of goal that we often saw him score in his glory days; the kind of foal many thought we’d never see again.

As it turns out, Torres has now become the simultaneous holder of the greatest international titles in existence, club and country wise. The 2008 and 2012 Euro Cup, the 2010 World Cup, the 2012 Champions League and the 2013 Europa League have placed Torres in a pedestal so high and so rare that very few of his peers will ever get the opportunity to even try to reach it. Juan Mata is one of those few, and he knows very well what it takes to reach it and how much there is at stake. Perhaps that is why, as soon as the match was over, he didn’t waste any time in telling each and every one of the reporters that approached him, how happy and how proud he was for his teammate, the one who according to Mata, “has had a very rough time here”. Indeed, Torres has suffered extended periods of goal-droughts and physical and psychological struggles that made him highly unpopular among Chelsea’s own supporters, and almost made him drown in a puddle of his own melancholy.

Rafa Benítez’s arrival at Stamford Bridge meant a new opportunity for Torres, a clean slate. And he made the best of it and managed to come out victorious. In Benítez, he found not only a coach, but a friend, who never doubted him. We can’t be sure of how José Mourinho will treat him, if he indeed is set to become Chelsea’s new manager next season. What we can be sure of is that a certain Vicente Del Bosque has followed Torres’ evolution with a lot of interest. With barely a month to go before the Confederations Cup begins, and with a less than encouraging Villa and many of Spain’s main men far from their best form, Fernando Torres’ umpteenth resurrection could prove to be excellent news for Spain. Now, Del Bosque has more than enough motives to finally call El Niño back”. - Guillermo Daniel Olmo, Spanish journalist (x)

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(Source: bluetorres)

(Source: nayvan26)