Favourite's tag doesn't suit us insists Fernando Torres

Jun 7 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

FERNANDO TORRES is desperate for Euro 2008 glory to help him get over his Champions League semi-final heartbreak with Liverpool.

Torres came within touching distance of capping a memorable first season at Anfield with a Champions League final appearance, but agonisingly missed out after a 4-3 aggregate loss to Chelsea in the last four.

That meant Torres, despite netting 33 competitive goals following his big- money move from Atletico Madrid, ended his maiden campaign at Liverpool without any major honours.

Liverpool’s loss could be Spain’s gain though, with the 24- year-old hitman raring for silverware this summer.

“I have a lot of confidence following this season, and with a lot of desire to be able to finish the season with a title,” he said.

“The semi-finals of the Champions League have left a bad taste in the mouth, we were close to winning the Champions League and you could taste what it could be like to win such an important title.

“It was not to be though and now this (Euro 2008) is the last opportunity to finish with a title of this nature.

“It will be what I have always dreamed of – a great season and a great end.

“The game against Chelsea is etched on my mind and while it’s not the best memory, it’s certainly the most striking: the passage of play around that wretched penalty and the third goal that settled the tie.

“A year’s work undone by a couple of acts of bad luck.”

Torres has ben training with the Spain squad ahead of Tuesday’s Group D opener with Russia.

But despite his craving for international honours, he admits he feels uneasy about Spain once again having too much expectation heaped upon them.

“I don't believe the expectations are false, but they are unnecessary,” added Torres.

“The favourites tag doesn’t suit us: we're not. The favourite is a team like Italy that has just won the World Cup or France, runners-up at the World Cup and European Champions I don't know how many times.

“It’s all the rage to say that we are going to win and it seems like we’ve already been labelled as having almost won it.

“They’re counting on us, and they use these terms to generate hope, but at the end of the day, that gets confused with an obligation.

“Just imagine, if we reach the semi-finals, we’ll have bettered many generations of the national team, teams as famous, or even more so, than ourselves. We want to win and I believe that we have a chance, with some very useful players.

“This creates unnecessary expectations and if this tournament doesn't turn out well, it gives the impression that everything we’ve achieved has been for nothing.

“And it's not like that. We've been through some bad times, before reaching Austria, but we came through and, if things go badly, we’ll come through again. But I can assure you, we do not need these false expectations.”