AT THE BALLON d’Or ceremony in Zurich in a fortnight’s time, Diego Simeone will battle it out with Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti and Germany’s Joachim Low for the title of FIFA World Coach of the Year for 2014.
Simeone would be a more than deserving winner. He has achieved miracles at the Vicente Calderon since taking over in December 2011, bagging five trophies on a limited budget and masterminding one of football’s greatest ever achievements in beating Barcelona and Real Madrid to La Liga last season.
But his toughest challenge yet now awaits him as he attempts to succeed where Ancelotti, Andre Villas-Boas, Roberto Di Matteo, Rafael Benitez, Jose Mourinho and Pippo Inzaghi all failed by rediscovering the old Fernando Torres.
Earlier, Atletico Madrid confirmed that the AC Milan striker will return to his boyhood club on an 18-month loan deal following a disastrous four month spell at San Siro.
As Torres departed Chelsea just before the end of the summer transfer window, his team-mate Petr Cech predicted he would score 50 goals in two seasons at Milan.
The goalkeeper probably now regrets that statement. The Spaniard only managed one in 10 Serie A appearances – a header against newly-promoted Empoli in September. Deployed mainly in the centre of a three-man attack, Torres was way off the pace every time he stepped onto the field. His touch was heavy, his shooting erratic and even in the slower-paced Serie A he was unable to compete with faster and more physical defenders.
Just like a string of Premier League summer signings – including Ashley Cole and Nemanja Vidic – he has looked like a player ready to go into semi-retirement.
By November, Milan were already planning to offload him and after a dreadful performance in the Milan derby five weeks ago he didn’t play again. The fact that vice-president Adriano Galliani was able to convince Atletico to swap Torres, who turns 31 in March, for Alessio Cerci is some achievement.
It is six seasons now since Torres hit double figures in a league campaign. He has become such a figure of fun for fans around the world that one almost forgets that prior to the 2010 World Cup he was one of the most complete strikers in the game.
He burst onto the scene at his beloved Atletico, becoming the club’s youngest-ever captain at the age of 19 and top-scoring for five straight seasons. Then an explosive frontman with pace, power, skill and dynamism he enjoyed some truly special moments in the Spanish capital – none more so than his brace against Barcelona at Camp Nou in 2004-05 and his strike in the Madrid derby in 2006-07.
Transferring to Liverpool in 2007, Torres would establish himself as a world-class striker – scoring 81 goals in 142 games and combining wonderfully with Steven Gerrard as the Reds went close to the Premier League title in 2008-09.
After his much-publicised €58m failure at Chelsea, followed by another humiliation at Milan, Torres now has one final chance at the club where he made his name.
“I’m happy because I’ve said many times that I can’t hide where I come from. It’s an honour to be a part of Atletico Madrid,” Torres said at the International Sports Conference in Dubai on Monday.
“I made my dream come true when I played my first game for them at 17. I was standing in the stands when I was a kid. There is a time when everyone must go back home.
“I didn’t get what I was looking for when I left England. So we agreed it was best to find a solution. I was not helping the team. I thought I would be important for Milan, but I was not really important, so I needed to find my happiness, and there isn’t a better place than Atletico.”
But going back to his spiritual home is unlikely to be enough on its own to inspire Torres. There have been numerous examples from the past where fallen former heroes have returned to their old hunting ground purely for sentimental reasons – these include Andriy Shevchenko at Milan and Robbie Fowler at Liverpool.
If Torres is to succeed he will need the help of Simeone – a magnificent motivator who is famed for toughening up his players mentally and physically. Atletico star Juanfran is confident that the Argentine coach can work his magic.
“Like all our fans, I want to see the signing of Torres. Fernando is a brilliant player,” Juanfran enthused.
“I’m convinced that, with the desire he has as a Rojiblanco, and the help of the boss, we’re going to see a great Fernando.”
And if we do see a great Fernando, then it will be Simeone’s biggest miracle yet. Two of the greatest coaches of all time in Ancelotti and Mourinho have been unable to resurrect Torres; now it is the Argentine’s turn to put his healing hands to the test.
– Carlo Garganese
Ain’t gonna happen anytime soon, unless they decide to match him up with Frankie in a number one contenders match and the winner fights him at UFC 200.
But that would really piss Edgar off, which would be hilarious actually.
I’m staying otta this one…
Aldo isn’t gracious in defeat, on the night or now and he’s still making excuses and threats to the UFC and McGregor. Let him stew.
A guy who’s undefeated for 10 years and champion as long as he is deserves a rematch. He got caught with one shot and knocked out, it happens in fights. The disrespect he is shown from Irish fans is embarrassing to be honest. If McGregor gets tagged in his first defence at 145 ye would all be screaming for an immediate rematch.
I agree Alan 100%. I’m delighted for Conor but Jose was a great champion and does deserve his rematch.
As much as there’s a McGregor bandwagon, theres also a big anti-Mcgregor bandwagon, who will latch onto half truths about his opponents… Aldo was a champion for 10 years becuase he fought in a weight class with very few other fighters for the first 5 and for the last 5 he barely ever fought… when was the last time he knocked anyone out? He was massively fussy about who he would fight, always picking fighters who were well below his ability and dodging the hard match ups. If truth be told, Conor was the first striking test he ever really faced in the UFC… He doesn’t deserve an immediate rematch because he has a history of pulling out of fights that didnt suit him.
So Ken Flo, Korean Zombie, Edgar were not hard match ups? Hominick took him to the brink as well. A great champ, and the only champ at 145. If Cain, Anderson etc get an immediate rematch, so should he
In fairness,who does he think he is,sayin he’s not goin to fight anyone else.he only fights once a yr anyway.think he’s still concussed after McGregor got a hold of him
UFC spent 18 months promoting Aldo vs McGregor. It would be very hard for them to promote it again for another 6 months after how the last fight finished. Especially as Aldo had no interest in promoting the 1st fight and left Mcgregor to do all the media work. As White said,aldo deserves a rematch after being such a dominant champion but the timing for that rematch wouldnt be right now. Let Mcgregor fight RDA and then he can fight Aldo/Edgar at UFC200 in july,but either way 1 of them aint gonna be happy.
It’s not surprising to be honest. Dana White is all about the $, he couldn’t give a toss about who deserves a rematch or who is next in line, whatever fight makes the most cash for the ufc ( ie. him and his business partners) is the fight that will be made. Hope mcgregor demands he gets his fair share, he pulls in way more ppv numbers then a lot of boxers but gets paid alot less then some of them.
He’s gotten his arse handed to him in record time already, is that not enough
One mistake in 10 years? Is that not a reason to give him another shot? Even after the first fight when they were waiting on the official announcement Conor himself was man enough to say they could do it again.
I think Dana is right though. Woukd be hard to promote that. It’s the fight game yes but equally ufc want to make money. The interest for that just isn’t there after last time. Maybe a year down the road might be better for all involved..