Torres: An Intimate Portrait of the Kid Who Became King

by Luca Caioli

This is the story of a boy who dreamt of rock stardom but grew up to be a football God. Fernando Torres is revered by players, coaches and managers, adored in his homeland and idolised by 42 million Liverpool fans across the world. From his birth in Madrid's working-class Fuenlabrada district to his incredible 33-goal first season at Liverpool and his winning goal in the final of Euro 2008, renowned sports journalist Luca Caioli goes behind the scenes of Torres' life to find out what makes the new hero of Anfield tick - as well as kick. Using often exclusive material from interviews with Rafael Benitez, Vicente Del Bosque, Andres Iniesta, Kenny Dalglish, Fabio Capello and Torres himself, Caioli paints a dazzling personal portrait of one of the world's most exciting young footballers.

Genres: Football, Nonfiction, Biography

384 pages, Paperback

First published August 6, 2009

About the author

Luca Caioli (Milan, 1958) is the author of several novels and biographies that have been translated into forty languages ​​and sold a million copies. Throughout a career of over thirty years as a journalist, he has covered the main sports events for the most prominent European media. He currently lives in Madrid.

Reviews

[miaaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book shares intimate stories regarding the Kid, who is no longer a kid but a father of (soon) two, from those who somehow related to his personal upbringings and footballing career. A passionate footballer with humility and loyalty, two rare characters in this football 'industrial' era.

Already a Kop legend, mind you he joined LFC in 2007, whose song is always sing out loud:

His armband proved
he was a red
Torres, Torres!!
You'll never walk alone it said
Torres, Torres!!
We brought the lad from sunny Spain
He gets the ball, he scored again
Fernando Torres - Liverpool's Number Nine
Na-Nar
Na-Nar-Nar
Fernando Torres - Liverpool's Number Nine

and whose goals leave spectators in thunderstruck amazement and brought the fans bouncing on their seats. Here's some of my most favourite goals

- First goal in Premier League against Chelsea (2007/2008)


- The goal froze everyone, especially the goalie (vs Internazionale 2007/2008 Champions League First Knockout round)


- Making sure the old foe to never forget what he can do against them (vs Real Madrid 2008/2009 Champions League First Knockout round)


- And Lehmann was bragging about this goal, he was deluded to think he can stop it (vs Arsenal 2007/2008 Champions League Quarter Finals 2nd Leg)


- Goal of the Season contender (vs Sunderland 2009/2010 Premier League)



Shankly used to say: The footballer had to bring happiness back to the people of Liverpool. I guess Fernando Torres took the role of being a Liverpool player seriously. He's one of us.


***

I love youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Roos *lovestruck lovestruck*

[Jobair H · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a young boy who looked at everything in a positive way. He was very persistent and he would keep pushing and pushing to get to where he is right now... A Striker at Chelsea FC. I would recommend this book to anybody who likes these type of stories (realistic fiction)

[Leosya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written by Luca Caioli who has written other biographical books about football players, for example Cristiano Ronald and Lionel Messi. This author writes his books by interviewing close friends and coaches of these football players. I chose to read this book because I am very interested in football and biographies after i read the Zlatan Ibrahimovic book.

This book is about the life of Fernando Torres and how he has become one of the best strikers in modern football. It teaches me a lot about his life as this book promised to me at the start. I learned that because of Torres's success has made his little hometown of Fuenlabrada get onto the map. I also learned that he was Liverpool's most expensive purchase ever and that he became captain of his team at only 18 years old. I agree with what this author wrote because he interviewed people who are close to Torres and also because I do not know much about him.

As a conclusion I really liked this book because of the authors unique way to interview people who knew this person. In my opinion most people would love to read this book because of the style it is written in, meaning that I would recommend this book to any of my friends. An age group for this book would be about 8 to any age, I rate it 7 out of 10

[Comelibros · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fernando; él que ha pasado a ser parte de la historia del liverpool. El niño aquel que viste el nueve de este equipo. Según "Rafa Benítez lo califica como él es único; ya que puede encontrar diferentes dimensiones en su juego. El chico que antes de pasar al equipo rojo, dejo con mucha pena el atlético Madrid donde era idolatrado por muchos de sus hinchas. El niño llegó a la liga inglesa con muchas expectativas, para convertirse en uno de los grandes goleadores de la liga premier. El libro da un repaso de su vida por los campos de Cee y sus estudios en Santiago de Compostela y su mentalidad gallega, reservada y lista.

[Andi Eshak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much-much-much interview. But I like it.

[Sanntint · Rating 5 out of 5]

Torres through others and short and concise account of living hero !