Around 45,000 Atletico fans packed the Vicente Calderon for his presentation on Sunday, and the build-up to Wednesday's derby date with Real Madrid was dominated by the news Fernando Torres would start. Could the 30-year-old possibly live up to the expectations with the Spanish champions? What might the future have in store for the Torres-Atletico reunion and what part will old friend and manager Diego Simeone play? For a striker who has only scored 21 goals in his 120 league games over the last four-and-a-half years, the return of Torres to his boyhood club has caused quite a stir. Making history El Nino could not have wished for a better occasion for his first game back: a home cup tie against local rivals Real. And his dream week continued as Raul Garcia's penalty and a Jose Maria Gimenez header gave Atletico a 2-0 first leg advantage in the Copa del Rey tie - a victory which was, remarkably, Torres's first derby win over Real at the 10th time of asking. In truth, however, the former Liverpool and Chelsea striker played only a minor role in his team's triumph. With the visitors completely dominating possession in the opening period, leading Atletico's line was a fruitless task and Torres's main contribution was to regularly find himself offside as he tried to run in behind the Real defence. Although he worked hard and helped maintain the shape of the team, on the few occasions Torres did receive possession he was unable to get the better of Madrid centre-backs Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane and generally looked less than match sharp - hardly surprising as the game was his first taste of competitive action in six weeks. And when Atletico opened both the scoring and the pattern of the game through Garcia's penalty, manager Simeone responded by immediately substituting Torres and replacing him with midfielder Koke in a switch to a 4-5-1 formation, bringing his debut to a rather underwhelming end. But in the end none of that mattered. Torres is back, finally victorious over Real and, once he regains fitness, ready to play a major role in his team's push for three trophies. Coming home Why is Torres so beloved by Atletico fans? After all, they have been blessed by a series of wonderful strikers over recent years, with Sergio Aguero, Diego Forlan, Radamel Falcao, Diego Costa and now Mario Mandzukic all spearheading the team's attack. For all their success, however, none of them have come close to matching Torres in terms of the esteem in which they are held by supporters. Quite simply, Torres was different from the rest because he was a hometown hero and a boyhood fan who grew up to captain the team he had always loved. Ultimately, the love affair between Torres and Atletico fans is rooted in the club's identity. Whereas more glamorous neighbours Real have always been blessed by seemingly endless reserves of money, power and fame, Atletico have always been treated as an afterthought and forced to work hard for everything they have got. In a city - and country - besotted with Real, delusions of grandeur are not befitting for Atletico fans. Supporting them is plumping for the plucky underdog who generally suffer valiant failure. Unlike Real, you do not support Atletico for glory: you support them because they are part of your identity and you are prepared to take heavy doses of rough with occasional outbreaks of smooth. And in Torres, Atletico fans saw a player who epitomised those qualities during his first spell in red and white. As a boyhood Atleti fan, he grew up with a deep intuitive appreciation of the club's values and later demonstrated his affinity with the fans whenever he stepped on the pitch. More than his goals, Atletico fans loved him because he was one of their own. They loved him because of his attitude. They loved the fact that he was a trier, wore his heart on his sleeve, gave every ounce of effort in every game and always came back for more, no matter how many chances he might have missed. And even when he left, Torres retained the affection of Atletico fans because he headed far away to another country and a different football culture. Joining Liverpool was acceptable: moving to Barcelona or, shudder at the thought, Real Madrid would have been seen as betrayal. So his popularity never dipped and, now he is back - on loan from AC Milan until the end of the 2015-16 season - Atletico fans will give him every opportunity to thrive once more. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30716285
Haha poor lad. Glad he is back at his home club though and it would be nice to see him get back to a decent level. But the lad is completely shot of any confidence and the injuries have ruined him.
Torres attitude and signing for Chelsea ruined him. That's what happens when you sulk like a 2 year old and sign for a club that never played to your strengths. At least he picked up a few medals I guess.
Can you blame him for sulking? The club were in ruins and made promises to him and didn't deliver. Plus we had Roy Hodgson as manager.
Liverpool: 0.64 goals/game Chelsea: 0.18 goals/game Milan: 0.10 goals/game On his new Atletico debut he was subbed at the earliest opportunity. #ruined
this is it for torres. he's no excuse... utter love for him where he is... lots of lesser teams to get a goal against. he's utterly flopped at chelsea and ac milan since he left us and he's only a few years left. Its a dream return but like fowler returning to us one feels it might end in disappointment for all concenred
harsh.... they could have subbed him at 20 or 30mins.... surely it'd be fair to follow those stats by poor debut... but it was v real after all
He loos like he wants to put 100% into it, but he just doesn't have the physical attributes to do it anymore.
Do you think Torres regrets leaving Liverpool? Granted he 'won' some medals by sitting on the bench, but he surely can't take too much pride in them given he barely played or had a part in winning them. His best years were here and he went downhill as soon as he left. If he stayed here, he would have had Suarez and later Coutinho and Sterling to play alongside. Maybe Sturridge would still have arrived. Would have been without question the best forward line in the league and maybe the founding of a successful period for us. Who knows. At the very least, do you think he regrets leaving Liverpool so soon? He was happy here, loved by the fans and enjoyed his football - he's just looked depressed and doesn't look like he has enjoyed his football since leaving.
But could you blame him? We had a sacked a good coach in Rafa and replaced him with Roy. We then played some of the worst football in the clubs history and there was no quick fix - in fact, 4-5 years on and look at us! He was at an age where he wanted to win things and challenge for titles - I can't fault a player for wanting to do that because it shows you he has a winning mentality. The club had also made false promises on buying big players but reneged. It is a shame we didn't see him alongside Suarez - whether it worked or not is one thing but it would have been exciting to find out.
That's not what I asked Looking back on what happened after he left us, how awful he's played and how his enjoyment has faded...do you think he regrets leaving? For some players, there are more important things than success and medals - look at Gerrard primarily. He might have some disappointments like the lack of a PL medal, but I'm sure Stevie is proud and happy with his career playing for his boyhood team, being happy, loved by fans and becoming a legend for the club. Same satisfaction for Torres?
