Author: isport

Former Chelsea assistant manager Ray Wilkins says that Fernando Torres’ days at Chelsea are numbered after the striker was publicly criticised by Jose Mourinho following the 3-1 defeat against Paris St Germain in the Champions League quarter-finals.

The first leg of the two legged match ended in a defeat for Chelsea, which puts their qualification hopes to the semi-final in tatters. The blues have reached the semifinals six times in the last 10 seasons and they have one of the impeccable records in this competition over the last decade.

Daniel Sturridge has been one of the best strikers in the Premier league in the last 12 months. He appears to have really come of age since joining Liverpool in a £ 12 million deal.

The striker had not been given a proper opportunity in the first-team at his previous club like Chelsea and Manchester city. However, he has proved his worth by scoring almost a goal per game in the last 12 months at Liverpool. Sturridge has revealed that Chelsea striker Fernando Torres played a key role in his move to Liverpool.

At a point when it seemed Jose Mourinho’s Blues were in the lead of the title race, the Chelsea title rivals only looked like they were getting stronger as vital players started to come back from injuries.

Mourinho confirmed that Fernando Torres is back in shape and is all set to play West Bromwich Albion. No one knows at the moment how big of a role Torres will play against the Baggies as this is yet to be seen. However, his return is momentous. He re-entered at a very important period in the Premier League title race.

Fernando Torres has been going through a minor resurgence with Chelsea as he has scored 3 goals in the last 5 matches and even though it isn’t the revival he needs to make up for the huge price tag that Chelsea had to offload in order to secure the services of the Spanish forward, it still is a nice boost for the former Liverpool player.

Chelsea’s strikers Demba Ba, Fernando Torres and Eto’o have not been going through the best of times and this is evident taking into consideration that the top goal-scorers for the team of Jose Mourinho is filled with midfielders as Hazard is the main outlet of goals for his team in this season followed by Oscar and Lampard.

The roller-coaster ride of the Spanish striker Fernando Torres has seen him being considered as one of the best forwards in the world and the next day a waste of a transfer.

Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres proved to be an attacking duo that destroyed everything in their path. Those were a few years ago when Torres played in Liverpool and attracted the attention of top European clubs until Chelsea finally managed to sign him up for a whopping £50 million.

Chelsea striker Fernando Torres states that he is happy to stay at Chelsea despite rumours that he is about to be sold by the club if they sign Wayne Rooney from Manchester United. Chelsea have been linked with a move for Rooney in the last few months.

The England striker is also at the peak of his career unlike Torres, who continues to be a shadow of his Liverpool days. He may have scored 23 goals for Chelsea last season, but new Chelsea manager José Mourinho does not seem to be a big fan of his play.

He was left out of the starting line-up against Manchester United a week ago and it is extremely doubtful that he will start against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Super cup. Mourinho went with the winger Andre Schurrle as the striker against United, which showed his lack of faith in the 29-year-old. Torres, though, has welcomed Chelsea’s links with Wayne Rooney and says that he will be a great signing for the club. He has also do not possible departure from Stamford Bridge. Since making the move to West London, Torres has won numerous titles including the Champions league and the Europa league.

The 29-year-old still has a few years left in his Chelsea contract. “We have been working for only a short time together. People respect him very much and you trust him that he works without fail. I have never felt this way before with any coach. Chelsea always wants the best players and Rooney is one of them. I admire him and it would be great to play with him,” said Torres ahead of the UEFA Super cup match on Friday night. Chelsea will be hoping to win this tournament, which they lost to Atletico Madrid last season when Roberto di Matteo was the manager.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is resigned to losing his star Spanish trio of Fernando Torres, Juan Mata and Cesar Azpilicueta with the players due to return to the club just 24 hours before their Premier League kickoff against Hull City on the 18th of August after playing in Spain’s friendly against Ecuador.

The World and European champions will take on Ecuador on the 14th of August with all three of Chelsea’s Spanish trio expected to be a part of Vicente del Bosque’s side for the match. And the Portuguese tactician is already planning his team excluding the three players with the additional 24 hours given for television coverage making it a possibility that they could still be a part of the squad and start on the bench.

The former Real Madrid boss admitted that his squad for the first match of the season will depend a lot on which players go away for international duty merely a couple of days before the start of the season. Mourinho also insisted that the likes of Fernando Torres and Juan Mata still have a future at the club despite reports claiming that the former Inter Milan boss doesn’t want the two along with David Luiz for the long term future of the club.

Mourinho stated that the two players are definitely a part of his future plans for the club and although all three were left out of the Chelsea’s team for their 8-1 hammering of a select Indonesian XI on Thursday, they will be a part of the squad come the new season.

Fernando Torres was the player who was linked strongly with a move to Barcelona but the comments made by Mourinho will give him a lot of confidence as he looks to find his feet again under a new manager.

Chelsea has been beaten by Southampton FC in a Premier League match played at St. Mary’s Stadium on Saturday. Southampton won the match by 2-1.

This defeat pushed Chelsea behind Tottenham Hotspur in the points table. The Blues are now at no. 4. However, they have played one match less than the Spurs.

Arsenal which is at no. 5 is only a couple of points behind Chelsea and the Blues need to play extremely well in the upcoming matches now, otherwise, their target of qualifying for the Champions League might not be achieved.

With some important games coming up, Rafa Benitez decided to rest some of his vital players in the match against Southampton. Ashley Cole, Eden Hazard and David Luiz, all sat on the bench and on their places, Ryan Bertrand, Victor Moses and Marko Marin got playing opportunity.

The Blues were never in control. Right from the start, Southampton was dominating and they eventually got the reward for their aggression in the 23rd minute. Jay Rodriguez opened the scoring for the Saints.

The Blues levelled 10 minutes later. John Terry was the one who scored the leveller. He headed Oscar’s corner kick into the net and brought the visitors back into the match.

But, the Chelsea supporters couldn’t celebrate for too long. Just after a couple of minutes, Chelsea was down again. That goal came off a free kick. Rickie Lambert whipped the ball powerfully into the top corner of the net.

In the second half, Chelsea’s performance dipped down even further and they were looking all over the place. They never looked like scoring a leveller in the second half.

Chelsea will face Manchester United in its next match. That will be a FA Cup match and will be played at Stamford Bridge on Monday.

Fernando Torres has said that he is not upset about the fact that he is getting lesser starting opportunities after the signing of Demba Ba.

Demba Ba signed for Chelsea last month and after his arrival, Torres is not getting regular starting opportunities. The Spaniard has started only three out of the last six matches of Chelsea. In the remaining three, it was Demba Ba who was given the starting opportunity.

Torres’ form hasn’t been that great off late. He hasn’t found the net in his last 9 appearances for Chelsea. On the other hand, Demba Ba has shown good form in the recent matches.

When asked whether he is upset that he is not starting regularly after the arrival of Demba Ba, Torres said, “No, I am not upset about that. The manager is in charge of the team and whatever he does is for the good of the side.”

“Demba is a very good striker and he is currently in better form than me. So, I don’t have any problem with him getting more starting opportunities.”

Torres also said that he loves playing in FA Cup matches because the atmosphere during those matches is absolutely electrifying.

Torres said, “It’s amazing to play against the lower division sides on their home grounds just because of the environment their fans create in the stadium. For those teams, it’s the only chance to take on a top team. So, they go out there with full intensity.”

“But, you can’t take those teams lightly. If you enter those games thinking that you will win easily, you will be making a big mistake. These lower division teams can pull off upsets on their day.”

Chelsea will take on Brentford in a FA Cup match on Sunday.