Euro 2012 - Spain snub for misfiring Torres

Fri, 24 Feb 11:52:00 2012

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque has left Chelsea striker Fernando Torres out of the world and European champions' squad for a friendly international against Venezuela in Malaga on Wednesday.

Torres Del Bosque - 0

Spain, who will defend their European crown later this year, face the vastly-improved South Americans in Malaga next Wednesday and while Del Bosque stressed there could still be changes to the squad before this summer's European Championship in Ukraine and Poland, Torres looks a long way from making his squad of 23.

Del Bosque said he wanted to reward players who had been performing well. Torres has been doing anything but that for more than a year.

"His performances recently have been a bit irregular," Del Bosque told a news conference at the Spanish federation's headquarters outside Madrid.

"It does not mean that he is not a special and charismatic player, who has represented his country many times," the former Real Madrid coach added.

"He is a lad we appreciate a great deal and it pains me to leave him out but I wanted to be fair to those lads who are pushing for a place."

Del Bosque, who is without Spain's injured all-time top scorer David Villa but hopes to have him back for Euro 2012, said he wanted to reward form players and recalled Valencia striker Roberto Soldado for the first time since June 2007.

He also handed Athletic Bilbao's 19-year-old forward Iker Muniain his first call-up to the senior squad and included strikers Fernando Llorente, also of Bilbao, and Alvaro Negredo of Sevilla.

Another notable absentee was Barcelona forward Pedro, a World Cup-winner with Spain in South Africa in 2010 whose season has been disrupted by injury.

Torres has endured a woeful time since he joined Chelsea from Liverpool for a British record fee of £50 million just over a year ago.

He scored one goal for Chelsea in 18 appearances last season and this season he has been just as unimpressive.

In 29 appearances he has scored four times and has not found the net since October 19 when he scored twice against Genk in a Champions League match.

He scored his last Premier League goal five months ago in a 4-1 win over Swansea on September 24 - and was then sent off minutes later.

Torres is unrecognisable from the player that was beloved for his scoring exploits at Liverpool and before that at Atletico Madrid.

He last scored for Spain in a European Championship qualifier against Liechtenstein in a 4-0 win in September 2010 when he scored twice but has not found the net for his country in three appearances since then.

"Torres should not take his bad run of form as a negative thing but as a stimulus," Del Bosque said. "Football is about being continually alive and the group always has to be alive to compete at the highest level.

"It is in no way a definitive decision. It's a basic list but not the final one for the European Championship."

Soldado, 26, has represented Spain twice before, in June 2007, when he failed to score. He has netted 12 goals for Valencia in La Liga this season and scored five in the Champions League group stage.

Spain won all eight of their qualifiers for Euro 2012 and finished top of Group I. They are in Group C for the finals along with Italy, Republic of Ireland and Croatia.

Squad for Venezuela friendly:

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Victor Valdes (Barcelona), Pepe Reina (Liverpool)

Defenders: Alvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Jordi Alba (Valencia), Andoni Iraola (Athletic Bilbao), Javi Martinez (Athletic Bilbao)

Midfielders: Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Thiago Alcantara (Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Santi Cazorla (Malaga), Xavi (Barcelona), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)

Forwards: David Silva (Manchester City), Iker Muniain (Athletic Bilbao), Roberto Soldado (Valencia), Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao), Juan Mata (Chelsea), Jesus Navas (Sevilla), Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla)

Eurosport / Reuters

Comment 41 - 60 of 60

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  1. Torres wake-up, y saying u dont care if u doesn't­ score? That means u doesn't deserv ur pay. U beter ­ go off d pitch, sit with spectators and watch those­ who are serious with d business b/cos pple pays 2watch­ ur best not ur lazy rubish. Fuuuuuuuuuuck!

    From chukwuma, on Sat 25 Feb 18:37

  2. HE'S A JOKE.... HE MUST NOT BE IN THE SQUAD...­ DEFINITELY..

    From Jim the Greek, on Sat 25 Feb 17:45

  3. Torres ironically left liverpool to win trophys?? now­ it looks like his former team will win some silverware­ this season, sorry fernando your getting what you­ deserve.

    From evans, on Sat 25 Feb 4:52

  4. Well he played in the World Cup winning team but­ didn't score one goal. Why would they pick him? I­ think he'd be good in the Championship.

    From Chris Bull, on Sat 25 Feb 4:48

  5. no matter about Torres what about the Spanish team as a­ whole. Cant see past them for the Euros, especially­ when or midfield doent have one skillfull player and­ our attack is C****p

    From WILLIAM, on Sat 25 Feb 4:22

  6. He's half an boy and half a girl,
    Torres,­ Torres,
    he looks just like a transvestite,
    Torres,­ Torres,
    he wears a frock he loves the c**k,
    he sells­ his **** on albert dock,
    Fernando Torres,
    Charaggers­ bit on the side

    From David O' connor, on Sat 25 Feb 4:00

  7. delighted for him.

    From ollie, on Sat 25 Feb 3:48

  8. Someone said Torres was the world best striker ay a­ country mile in his first season at Liverpool. How come­ he didn't even win the golden boot in England then?

    From collins, on Sat 25 Feb 3:28

  9. drogba is torress problem , he has to go and remove­ drogbas spell for him to start performing again. No­ striker who competes with drogba in chelsea has ever­ done well. crespo , shevshenko , marteja Kesman etc­ ....

    From oscar oscarloperii, on Sat 25 Feb 3:25

  10. He is finished for forever, just 'bad spells'­ don't last this long

    From Mutiny at Man City, PLAYERS IN CONTROL, on Sat 25 Feb 3:10

  11. I hope he's in the squad for the euros and stars­ every match then surely Spain won't win the­ tournament.

    From Convey, on Sat 25 Feb 3:06

  12. Any decision other then leaving torress out of Spain­ team would be 100% wrong

    From Istina Boli, on Sat 25 Feb 3:02

  13. I find it very funny how every Liverpool fan blames­ Chelsea and AVB inpeticular for Torres's dramatic­ decline from being a footballing great to a bum. He has­ been terrible for a couple of years now, his last­ season with Liverpool was atrocious and its just been­ getting worse since. He sulks, moans and just looks­ simply dis-interested, he doesn't even desverve to­ be called spanish in this form never mind being called­ up to their squad..

    Oh ya, i can't stand it when­ he tells reporters that he doesn't care about­ whether he scores or not, its just about the team bla­ bla bla. TORRES YOUR A STRIKER, YOU WERE BOUGHT TO­ SCORE GOALS, ITS YOUR ONLY JOB ON THE PITCH TO DO.. YOU­ REALLY REALLY SHOULD CARE!

    From vinnie, on Sat 25 Feb 2:51

  14. Doesn't really look Spanish, does he? Looks like a­ big girl's netball player or similar. Used to have­ a burst of speed and directness in the box, always­ remember the first goal I saw him/her score. Some of­ the loss of form happened when he had his hair cut -­ middle name might be Samson - and then of course he got­ married too...hmm.

    From joeblogs, on Sat 25 Feb 2:00

  15. Spain should offer Mercci citizenship, then the world­ cup is theirs once more.

    From dipo, on Sat 25 Feb 0:39

  16. Breaking News from Disney!...Reportedly, Mickey Mouse­ wears a Fernando Torres wristwatch.

    From Gitano the Gael, on Sat 25 Feb 0:34

  17. Spain take some beating without Messi ( not yet given­ citzenship) or Torres , but look at their goalkeepers,­ bloody hell Casillas, Valdes & Reina, their worth a­ goal a game.

    From Bryan, on Sat 25 Feb 0:33

  18. @ BLADE. 4 real hence theoretically its again barca­ playing in euro2012...had messi being a­ spaniard....well, Pep would simply had bn the coach of­ Spain

    From plexis, on Sat 25 Feb 0:24

  19. When Torres was at Liverpool he was without doubt the­ Worlds best striker, by a country mile, thats 4 years­ ago, since his injury problems he wasn't really on­ song during 2010 World Cup He's still only 27 but­ time is ticking he should go back to Spain they'd­ fight over him and he could regain his touch and get­ back in The Champions World Cup team for 2014.

    From Bryan, on Sat 25 Feb 0:23

  20. Torres to Arsenal for Walcott and maybe some cash? That­ would be a win/win siutation for both clubs

    From Mitchell, on Sat 25 Feb 0:09
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