El Niño Torres sends the Calderón to heaven with his 100th goal

El Niño Torres scored and the entire Calderón appeared to soar towards heaven. A timely goal, which secured Atleti’s first win after four games without a victory, but above all a goal desired like few others in the history of the club. Since the first half of the season, at Eibar to be precise, Torres hadn’t managed to score, he was stuck on 99. His was beginning to be lost in the forest of centre-forwards in which Simeone has been lost for months: Vietto, Correa, Jackson, Torres too… And now Jackson has gone, and maybe thanks to that we were able to see El Niño yesterday for a decent spell. And see him score.

I like the love affair between Torres and Atlético. I think it’s good for football, good all round. He appeared at a difficult time for the club, down in the Segunda for the first time since the Civil War. At a time when Real Madrid were signing a galáctico a season, Torres was the only thing Atleti had to cling to, their only hope, their only exciting prospect. Every child growing up in the Spanish capital at the start of the century who chose Atleti, chose them because of Torres. Because of him they ignored Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo and Beckham. He alone saved for Atlético a decent bunch of supporters from a generation who appeared destined to support their rivals.

He left because he wanted more than Atlético could offer him, and nobody reproached him for it. They never forgot him. Atleti fans lived his spells at Liverpool and Chelsea as if they were their own, and thanks to him they were right in the limelight with the incredible successes of the Spanish national team. He waved the red and white flag when the Spanish side paraded in triumph through Madrid. Brought back from Milan, an almighty crowd gathered for his presentation. He then turned up with two goals against Real Madrid. Since then the fans have lived through his time on the bench hoping for a magical moment to celebrate together. It finally arrived and the Calderón was sent to heaven.