Fernando José Torres Sanz (born March 20, 1984) is a Spanish football player. He was born in the Fuenlabrada neighbourhood of Madrid and was the youngest player to play for Atlético Madrid and the youngest to become captain (at age 19). Nicknamed 'El Niño' (The Kid) for his youthful face, Torres is a striker for Spain and Liverpool. Torres scored 55 goals over 5 seasons in the Spanish top flight, with only Samuel Eto'o and David Villa scoring more in the same period. Torres also played two seasons in the second division where he scored 7 goals in 40 games.
In 1999, Torres signed his first contract with the club and at the end of the 1999–2000 season he was part of the first team. His next success was at the European Under-16 Championship in England in 2001, where he finished as the Player of the Tournament en route to Spain's victory.
Date of Birth: 20/03/1984
Clubs: Athletico Madrid, Liverpool
International: Spain
Honours: Euro 2008 Champion
Fernando José Torres Sanz was born on 20 March 1984 in Madrid, Spain. He is nicknamed El Niño ("The Kid") and scores loads of goals for both Liverpool and Spain.
Torres started his career with Atlético Madrid, who he joined aged just 11. He made his professional debut in 2001 and scored 75 goals in 174 La Liga appearances.
He joined Liverpool in 2007, after the club paid their record transfer fee to sign him and marked his first season with the club by being their first player to score more than 20 league goals for the club in a season since Robbie Fowler in 1995–96.
His first Premier League goal came on his Anfield debut on 19 August, in the 16th minute in a 1–1 draw against Chelsea. His first hat-trick came in a 4–2 victory over Reading in the League Cup in September, with all of his goals coming in the second half.
He is a Spanish international and made his debut for the team against Portugal in 2003. He has since participated in three major tournaments; UEFA Euro 2004, 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2008. He was unable to score for Spain during the 2004 tournament, but did so on three occasions in the 2006 World Cup.
He was called up to Spain's UEFA Euro 2008 squad, where he set up Villa to score Spain's first goal of the tournament in the opening game against Russia. Torres came under criticism for apparently refusing to shake the hand of Spanish manager, Luis Aragonés, after being substituted. He has since denied being angry with the coaching, citing that he was actually "angry with himself".
He scored the opening goal, his first goal of the tournament, in Spain's next game, a 2–1 win over Sweden. Torres scored the winner and claimed the man of the match award in the final against Germany in a 1–0 victory. He was later named in the "team of the tournament".
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