Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone informed the media that he will start on-loan striker Fernando Torres against Real Madrid in Wednesday’s Copa del Rey Round of 16 first leg at the Vicente Calderon.
While Simeone has stated that the 30-year-old forward is not in the kind of shape that he demands of his players, the Argentine boss feels that Torres has enough matches under his belt this season to merit a starting role in the Madrid derby.
“Torres starts against Madrid,” Simeone stated at his press conference. “Torres came after training with Milan. He had already played ten league games there. He has spent several days working with us and tomorrow he will start playing.”
“If I did not see him with strength, with the potential to break opposing defenses, I would not count on him.”
Many feel that Simeone has the best chance of getting the best out of what’s left of Torres at this point in his career. The manager shares an understanding of the player from their time together as teammates in Madrid. And the Argentinian has remained an admirer of the striker despite his poor form and widespread criticism by football experts and fans.
“He has different characteristics to the others in out group and he will enhance our attack. I have great memories of him when he was young – I got on very well with him when I was here before and at Atletico now there are players with a sense of belonging.”
“He has arrived at one of the best Atletico Madrid sides in history and the supporters are behaving in an extraordinary way. The presentation with 45,000 supporters the other day was thrilling. We feel that we can compete for everything – for La Liga, for the Champions League and for the Copa del Rey. For everything.”
Since Torres old number (#9) is currently being worn by Mario Mandzukic, the striker will wear number 19 – which was previously held by Diego Costa before his move to Chelsea.
The number 19 jersey has been flying off the shelves at the Atletico Madrid team store. First day’s sales saw 2,000 strips sold in the nine hours the shop was in operation.
Programming note: Atletico Madrid vs. Real Madrid will be shown LIVE on Wednesday starting at 2:55pm EST on BeinSPORTS and DishWorld.
