Real Madrid will pay a visit to neighbours Atletico Madrid on Saturday in another city derby. Los Blancos know the game against the Colchoneros is very important because they can beat one their main rivals for La Liga’s title. It will also be important for Carlo Ancelotti at a personal level since he might want to get revenge on Fernando Torres.
The Italian manager was one of the main supporters of Torres’ signing for Chelsea in February 2011. Ancelotti was the Blues coach at that time, and he fought hard to bring the Spaniard to Stamford Bridge.
According to the Bristish press, the West London club made Liverpool an initial offer inferior to 50 million euros. However, the Reds remained immovable and rejected that bid, as they believed it was too short. Chelsea didn’t want to spend more and started studying other signing, but Ancelotti insisted he wanted Torres.
Roman Abramovich fondness for collecting world-class stars also contributed to Chelsea increasing the bid to 58 million euros. Liverpool accepted the offer and gave green light to Torres’ move to London. They would use that money to sign Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll as the Spaniard’s replacements.
However, Torres didn’t pay back Ancelotti for his trust. In fact, his first six months at Stamford Bridge were a total failure: he played 18 games and scored just one goal, against West Ham and on Resurrection Sunday.
Torres’ poor numbers didn’t help Chelsea reach their objectives, as they failed to conquer the Champions League and the Premier League titles. Thus, at the end of the season the club decided to get rid of Ancelotti, so it could be argued that Torres played a crucial role in the Italian’s exit.
Moreover, Torres upset Ancelotti again in the recent Copa del Rey tie scoring two key games for Atletico Madrid to beat Los Blancos. Will Ancelotti be eager to take revenge?
