Fernando Jose Torres Sanz better known as Fernando Torres, football player, was born on March 20, 1984 in Fuenlabrada, a large suburban town south of Madrid, Spain.
Fernando Torres represented Spain Under-16 and helped the team win the 2001 UEFA European Under-16 Football Championship by scoring a goal in the final. With him in the Under-16 squad, Spain won the Algarve Tournament in February 2001. The following year, he scored a brilliant goal in the final match and won the 2002 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship for his country. As a senior member, his debut was a friendly match against Portugal on September 6, 2003. This talented striker scored his first senior goal against Italy on April 28, 2004.
At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Fernando Torres scored the fourth goal for Spain against Ukraine in a group match, which helped the team win 4-0. He contributed two goals, one in the 76th minute and the other in the 90th minute, for Spain to lead 2-1 against Tunisia in the World Cup group match (2006). In 2008, Fernando Torres scored the first goal for Spain that won 2-1 against Sweden and the winning goal against Germany in the final match. He got “Man of the Match” for his outstanding performance in the final match helping Spain to clinch the UEFA European Football Championship (2008). He has scored 3 goals in 10 matches for Spain Under-21 team and 17 goals in 55 games as a senior member for Spain national team.
His passion for football made him join the Parque 84 at an early age of 5 and then moved to Rayo 13, 11-side team. Being brilliant as a striker, he scored 55 goals for Rayo 13, which won him a trial with Atletico Madrid. Fernando Torres was eleven years old when he joined Atletico Madrid in 1995; he played for the Under-15 team competing for Nike Cup within his country and among European clubs in 1998. He was the top scorer for his team, which won the Algarve Tournament in 2001. Fernando Torres has scored 82 goals in 214 matches with Atletico Madrid before moving to Liverpool in July 2007.
Fernando Torres played his debut for Liverpool, which won 2-1 against Aston Villa on August 11, 2007. On scoring a hat-trick against Middlesbrough (February 23, 2008) and West Ham United (March 5, 2008), Fernando Torres became the first Liverpool player (since Jackie Balmer, 1946) to score a hat-trick in successive home matches.
In 1999, he was only 16 years old when he won Nike Cup top goal scorer and the ‘Best Young European Player’. Fernando Torres became the top scorer and player of the tournament in the UEFA European Under-16 Football Championship (2001). His brilliant performance won him the same laurels (top scorer and player of the tournament) in the UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship (2003) also. With Fernando Torres in the squad, Liverpool became ‘PFA Team of the Year’ (2008). He also won the ‘Premier League Player of the Month’ (February 2008) and ‘Liverpool Player of the Season’ (2008).
