Fernando Torres is a striker who plays for English side Chelsea and the Spanish national team. Before joining Liverpool in 2007 he played six years for Atlético Madrid, after having spent six years in Atlético’s youth squad prior to that. He also worked his way up through the Spanish national side’s youth ranks, usually as the top scorer, from U-15 until he made his debut in the senior team at the age of 19. That season he was also named as Atlético’s captain. In the qualifying campaign for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Torres was Spain’s top scorer, which led to several English club’s being interested in bringing him to the Premier League. The following season was his last for Atlético Madrid, who brought in Diego Forlan to replace Torres. He signed a six year contract with Liverpool in a record transfer for the club.
Torres immediately settled in with Liverpool. In his first season at the club he scored 29 goals and was runner-up (to Ronaldo) in Player of the Year in England. Despite several injury problems in the next two seasons Torres performed at the highest level until late in the 2009/10 season. Since then he has struggled a bit to find back to his normal top form. For his national side he was at his very best when Spain won the 2008 UEFA European Championship. Torres scored the match-winning goal in the final against Germany and was named Man of the Match. Torres also played in Spain’s 2010 FIFA World Championship winning squad, although he was not performing at his best. After much speculation whether he would leave Liverpool he signed a new 3 year contract with the club in August 2010. However on the last day of the following transfer window, January 2011, Chelsea signed Torres for an English record £50 fee. His debut for Chelsea was on February 6th, against Liverpool! After a long time coming, Torres scored his first goal for Chelsea on April 23rd in a 3-0 win against West Ham. Torres scored the second goal of the match and assisted the third.