There are footballers who look at the Euro Cup as a showcase. Players forgotten in their clubs, willing to join the top continental competition, as attentive to their national teams as they are to the market. This is not the case of Ferran Torres. There are other footballers who look at the Euro Cup as a placebo. Players who change good for bad in their clubs, but when they wear the clothes of their team they bring out the best of their repertoire. That is the case of Ferran Torres.
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Thomas Strakosha, Balliu, Ajeti, Djimsiti, Mario Mitaj, Kristjan Asllani, Ylber Ramadani, Nedim Bajrami, Jasir Asani, Qazim Laci (Medon Berisha, min. 70) and Rei Manaj (Armando Broja, min. 58)
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David Raya, Laporte (Le Normand, min. 45), Daniel Vivian, Grimaldo, Jesús Navas, Dani Olmo (Álex Baena, min. 84), Oyarzabal (Fermín López, min. 61), Ferrán Torres (Lamine Yamal, min. 71), Merino, Martín Zubimendi and Joselu (Morata, min. 71)
Goals 0-1 min. 13: Ferrán Torres.
Referee Glenn Nyberg
Yellow cards Nedim Bajrami (min. 66), Medon Berisha (min. 88) and Daniel Vivian (min. 90)
In his clubs, Ferran Torres has a scoring average of 0.22. At Barcelona he has scored 25 goals in 113 games (0.22); at Manchester City, 16 in 43 (0.37); while at Valencia he has scored nine in 97 (0.09). Everything changes when he puts on the Red suit. The Shark—a self-imposed nickname—shows his best side, his accuracy on goal. With the Spain shirt, Ferran Torres has played 44 times and scored 20 goals. “What happens to me when I put on the national team shirt?” Torres said; “I think of my family, of all the people. I feel like I play for all of them.” And he added: “It is an honor to represent my country, I am going to take advantage of the opportunities that the coach gives me, with goals, assists, defensive work… The important thing is the victory.”
Ferran has an average of 0.45 goals per game for Spain and has already caught up with Telmo Zarra: 20 goals in 20 international games. Zarra is not just anyone: top scorer in the League (254) until two boys named Lionel Messi (474) and Cristiano (311) appeared. Ferran Torres, far from those figures, has nevertheless reached 13th place among the best scorers in the history of La Roja. “I have always been clear about it, I want to continue making history with Spain. I’m not going to stop until I get it,” he stressed.
The Blaugrana does not usually miss an opportunity in La Roja, much less when Luis de la Fuente draws a revolutionary eleven like against Albania. At least, that was the case if analyzed with respect to the players he had used in La Roja’s first two matches in the Euro Cup. “Today was a day in which we wanted to win and we wanted all the players who are available to have minutes,” explained De la Fuente.
Against the Balkan team, he only left Laporte in the initial team, precisely the only footballer who had missed Spain’s debut in Berlin against Croatia. He was injured. So, so that the former Athletic centre-back, key in getting the ball out for La Roja, could continue with the set-up against Albania, De la Fuente sent him to the starting field and then replaced him at half-time. “We had already agreed with the center backs that they would each play for a while,” said the coach. The rest, a Spain unprecedented in Germany. The mass rest that the coach devised also included Unai Simón. The case of the goalkeeper, however, did not generate any headache for De la Fuente. On the other hand, a good game from Ferran Torres and Dani Olmo could sow doubts in the coach’s head. It happened, in any case, that to change 90% of the team to De la Fuente he was helped by the present – Spain had already secured first place in group B – but also by the past. La Roja had faced Albania eight times. In all, with the same winner: Spain. In Düsseldorf, thanks to Ferran Torres, the winning streak was extended.
In the starting eleven against Albania, De la Fuente used five players who had not yet made their debut in Germany: Raya, Jesús Navas, Vivian, Grimaldo and Joselu. “We have managed to get everyone, except Álex Remiro, to participate. The changes were due to reading of the game. We wanted everyone to live this experience. Fermín’s situation, for example, is surely priceless for him,” the Spain coach insisted. A mix between the players he wanted to give a chance to and those he needed with rhythm, especially in competitive alert for when the direct qualifiers begin on June 30 in Cologne.
three victories
Spain has three victories, five goals for and none against. And De la Fuente accepts the title candidate poster in Germany 2024. Of course, with peace of mind. “The illusion is free and we are the first to have illusion. It is an engine to generate positive aspects, the desire to achieve important things. But that doesn’t guarantee you anything. “All the games are terribly equal,” said the coach. “It’s the first time it’s happened,” he added about finishing the group stage with nine points, five goals for and zero against. “Let’s give it that importance, but calmly, with our feet on the ground. We understand that people value and respect the work of this generation. Today the game is our game plan, it developed as we had planned. Above all, in the first half, in the second it got a little out of hand. There is much room for improvement. We have exceptional footballers. When fighting to achieve something important, the best of the best is demanded,” said De la Fuente. And Ferran Torres asked: “Why can’t we dream of something big?”
He was not the only player that De la Fuente needs with competitive pace, fine with the ball. There are also Laporte, of course. Dani Olmo and Oyarzabal, two of his favorite players, old acquaintances of the coach during his time in the Spanish youth team.
There was, however, a special case before Albania. That of Jesús Navas. The Sevillian, world champion in 2010, became the oldest footballer to represent Spain in the two most relevant tournaments, the Euro Cup and the World Cup. At 38 years and 216 days, Navas erased the record of Santiago Cañizares, who, coincidentally in Germany (2006 World Cup), had played against Saudi Arabia at 36 years and 248 days. “I wanted to congratulate Jesús Navas, he is a joy for the entire group and for Spanish football,” De la Fuente celebrated.
Record for Navas, pace for Laporte and confidence for Ferran Torres. “Before the game I had already talked about it with Olmo, asking him to give me those passes into space. “I didn’t think twice when it arrived,” the Barça player concluded. And he took home nothing less than the MVP of the game.
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