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EURO 2008: Italy hold no fears for Torres

/noticias.info/ If Fernando Torres and David Villa were in any doubt about their rising stock worldwide, then the winning captain at the last FIFA World Cup has put them right.

Speed trap
Injury has prevented Fabio Cannavaro from piloting the Italy squad that he led to glory in Berlin two summers ago to a possible further success here at UEFA EURO 2008™. But the Real Madrid CF defender has played against both of Spain's strikers in the Primera División and is sufficiently impressed to have thought up a way to augment Italy's defensive savvy against this type of player. "I think we need to use radar guns, impose speed traps and fine them if they break the limit," Cannavaro joked. "These two work and think so quickly and still manage to shoot and pass with precision, which is tremendously hard at high speed."

Good record
Back in Neustift, Torres took the compliment with a smile — and accepted the chance to bat back in the verbal game being played out in advance of Spain's UEFA EURO 2008™ quarter-final with Italy. "I know that they appreciate my style in Italy — it was something I found out when I was moving clubs," grinned the Liverpool FC striker who set a new scoring record for a foreign debutant in the Premier League last season. "Every time I've played against Italy or an Italian team, I've done well and that's something people notice. All footballers feed on such things — you do well once or twice and it fills you with confidence about managing that again the next time."

Italy's nemesis
El Niño actually scored his first goal for his country back in 2004 against Italy. He was part of the Liverpool FC team that eliminated Marco Materazzi's FC Internazionale Milano from the UEFA Champions League this season, scoring in the second leg of a 3-0 aggregate victory. Even as a boy, Torres eliminated the Azzurri from the UEFA European Under-16 Championship – at the quarter-final stage, incidentally – back in 2001. If Spain have to bear an 88-year record of not having beaten Italy competitively, then Roberto Donadoni's team, according to overwhelming evidence, will have to take extra care in defending against this striker.

'No fear'
At the time of his debut goal for Spain, Torres admitted: "There is no better place to get your first for your country than in Italy. If I could have chosen when and where, then this would have been it." Now, four years on, his respect for Italy has grown still further — but so has his confidence. "It's not by luck that they are world champions or that they've won so many tournaments," he said. "OK, they pick up pieces of luck along the way, but they've earned our respect. However, we have absolutely no fear of them or of anyone else in the world — we've demonstrated our quality."

Italian style
Torres thinks he knows how the game will play out. "Italy have a style that you can like or dislike, but they play it to perfection," the 24-year-old added. "We'll have lots of ball possession, but we'll have to be careful not to lose it in dangerous areas or give away free-kicks. This is where the EURO starts, as far as I'm concerned. Have a bad day in the group and you can rescue yourself, but, have a bad day in the quarter-final and, normally, you're out." notas_de_prensa_archivo