Fernando Torres netted a hat-trick for Chelsea in their 6-1 demolition against QPR, following up with his decisive goal in the Nou Camp to help Chelsea beat Barcelona and book their place in the Champions League final.
So, surely this means the old Torres is back? Not exactly, in my opinion. I think Torres has been improving greatly in recent weeks, with much better movement and work-rate – he may not have been scoring a month or 2 back, but he was still getting in the right positions and creating chances for teammates, which is the most important thing. If he wasn’t getting in the position to score then sure, there would be a problem.
I wasn’t impressed with Di Matteo’s handling of the issue of Torres’ form a while back – when asked by journalists he stated that Fernando’s problem was mental, not physical. I mean, he’s been playing consistently so there was never a hint of an injury, so obviously it had to be a confidence issue. If I was Torres and I heard my manager saying that about me then I wouldn’t be pleased, but perhaps it has helped him somewhat based on his recent performances.
Another factor to consider is that this was QPR they were playing, at Stamford Bridge, a week after knocking out Barcelona in perhaps their biggest match in recent history – confidence is sky high, and, without being unfair to QPR, Bobby Zamora doesn’t really compare to Lionel Messi, does he.
Torres’ first goal of his hat-trick was slightly similar to that of his goal versus Barcelona – one-on-one with the keeper, he knocks it to the right of the goalie before kicking into an empty net, this was after a sublime through-ball by Kalou. This was to make it 3-0 just before the 19th minute.
Torres’ second goal of his hat-trick was Chelsea’s 4th, within 25 minutes, after some good work by Sturridge he was left to just smash the ball into an empty net again. Easy stuff.
Torres’ third and final goal of his hat-trick was again after being put through one-on-one with the goalie before opening up his body and passing it into the far corner, making it 5-0 to Chelsea in the 63rd minute.
So, hardly anything compared to Luis Suarez’s hat-trick against Norwich City, but still worthy of a mention nonetheless.
