Torres: “Lifting the Premier League title is equivalent to winning three leagues”
Fernando
spoke openly in an interview with Spanish national radio station ‘RNE’.
The forward looked back at the Ballon d’Or award, his move to Liverpool
and how he would love to see Reds take on his boyhood club Atletico in
Europe again this season.
Liverpool, who are chasing
their first league title in almost two decades, currently top the
Premier League following an impressive start to the season. Torres
described the how important the national league title means to fans and
players. “If you take into account the grandure of English clubs, and
the difficulty that lies in winning the domestic league crown, lifting
the Premier League title is equivalent to winning three leagues.”
During
the radio interview the forward referred to France Football’s Golden
Ball award and how he felt both “proud and happy” to have finished
behind “two of the game’s greats”, Ronaldo and Messi; a feat “which a
year ago would have been unthinkable.” Fernando took his hat off to the
eventual winner Cristiano Ronaldo, “a worthy winner” labelling the
Portuguese winger a “goal machine” in a recent interview with football
magazine ‘Kicker’.
When asked about his move to Anfield
and the phone-call he received from coach Rafa Benitez, Fernando Torres
explained that “he thought the call was a hoax”, and how “he called
Spain team-mate Pepe Reina to see what the manager’s phone number was.”
The call was in fact from the Liverpool manager, and eventually led to
the player becoming a ‘Red’.
The Spanish striker, who is
very happy with life on Merseyside, stated that: “Liverpool is in a
different dimension to Atletico, although the Madrid-based club will
always be the club of my life. Here (at Liverpool FC) I am not longer
like I was in Madrid where everything was focussed on me. I did not
have any experience so how could I have been the leader of players with
more experience than me? That was pressure.”
Fernando
Torres concluded the interview with RNE by confirming: “my dream is
really to play in this year’s Champions League final against Atletico
Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.”
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