Chelsea career

On moving to Stamford Bridge, Fernando Torres took over the vacant number nine jersey, but took 14 games before he found the net, a joyously received effort on a sodden Stamford Bridge pitch against West Ham.

It remained his only goal for the Blues that season but with a rare summer of recuperation following, hopes were high that 2011/12 would see the Fernando Torres that tormented Chelsea so much when he was wearing red.

Torres started the 2012/13 season well, breaking the deadlock in our 3-2 Community Shield defeat to Manchester City, following it up with successive strikes in league games against Reading and Newcastle United.

He also turned in impressive displays in the away wins at both Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, scoring the opening goal during the 2-1 win at the Emirates.

Torres received the second red card of his Chelsea career when he was controversially dismissed during the 3-2 home defeat against Manchester United. Replays clearly proved that the striker had been clipped by Johnny Evans, but referee Mark Clattenburg disagreed and booked him for simulation, his second yellow card of the game.

Pre-Chelsea

Aged 26 at the time of his move from Liverpool, he had netted 65 goals in 102 league appearances for the Reds and 81 in 142 games in all competitions.

He originally moved to the Premier League aged 23 having spent the previous 12 years at Atletico Madrid, a club based a few miles from the town of his birth on the outskirts of the capital city.

His first full season at Atletico was a quiet start with just six goals from 36 league appearances, but that became 13 from 29 games the next year and the 20-goal mark was reached in 2003/04, Fernando's most prolific season in Spain and the year of his debut for the national side.The transfer in July 2007 was valued at approximately ￡20 million.

His second season returned 17 goals (injury reducing his number of appearances) as his side finished second. In the 2009/10 season, despite Liverpool dropping down the table to seventh, Fernando accumulated a very healthy 22 goals in 32 games. Before joining the Blues midway through 2010/11, Fernando made 26 appearances for Liverpool, scoring 11 times including both goals in Chelsea's November defeat at Anfield.

International career

He headed to the World Cup in South Africa in 2010 already a winner of the European Championships at senior international level. In his teenage years, Fernando had achieved top-scorer status for his country in both the Under 16 and Under 19 European Championships and he scored his first goal for the senior side against Italy aged 20, seven months after his first cap.

In the 2006 World Cup in Germany he scored three times in the group stage but Spain were beaten by France in the first knockout round. However there was no stopping his nation two years later at Euro 2008, Fernando scoring once on the way to the final and the only goal in that match in Vienna as Germany were defeated. It was Spain's first major piece of silverware since 1964. In South Africa, Fernando struggled for full fitness and form having undergone surgery in April. As a result, Barcelona's Pedro took his place for a semi-final triumph over Germany.

Torres was selected as part of the squad for Euro 2012 and ended up walking away with the Golden Boot award after scoring three goals as Spain clinched their third successive major trophy.He was left out of the starting line-up for the opening game against Italy, but scored a brace in the following game against Republic of Ireland. He scored the third goal in their 4-0 destruction of Italy in the final, before teeing up Chelsea team-mate Juan Mata for the fourth.