Chelsea striker Fernando Torres has been left out of Spain’s squad for Wednesday’s friendly versus Venezuela due to his poor goal-scoring form for the Blues.
Since arriving in west London for the reported fee of 50 million pounds in January 2011, El Niño has bagged just five goals in all competitions for Chelsea.
Subsequently, his omission seems more than fair, especially when considering the form of Muniain, Roberto Soldado, Fernando Llorente and Alvaro Negredo.
Nonetheless, Spain manager Vicente del Bosque has admitted that it pained him to leave Torres out of Spain’s 24-man squad for Wednesday’s friendly against Venezuela.
“He is a lad we appreciate a great deal and it pains me to leave him out but I wanted to be fair,” del Bosque told The Independent.
“His performances recently have been a bit irregular.
“It is always a problem when a striker is not finding the net. It makes it difficult for them; we see that there is an issue.
“We have not been in contact with Fernando daily for a while but there is a lot of time and plenty of chances for him to find his touch before the Euros.”
Like Vicente Bosque said, Torres has ample opportunities to regain his goal-scoring ahead of the 2012 European Championships.
Chelsea have 12 English Premier League fixtures remaining, including high-profile matches versus the likes of Manchester City (Mar 19), Tottenham Hotspur (Mar 24), Arsenal (Apr 21) and Liverpool (May 5).
I think six goals in 12 Premier League games is more than attainable for Torres. If he can reach that goal, no pun intended, I fancy him to make Spain’s Euro 2012 squad.
If not, he’s still got opportunities to impress in the FA Cup and more importantly the UEFA Champions League.
Chelsea’s next FA Cup clash is on March 6 versus Birmingham City at St Andrews Stadium. Torres has a great chance at bagging a goal in this fixture to perhaps jump-start his form.
After all, if he can’t score against Birmingham City, who can he score against?
However, Torres’ chance at regaining his place in Spain’s national team will rely heavily on how he performs versus Napoli in the Champions League on March 14 at Stamford Bridge.
With the Blues down 3-1 on aggregate, Andre Villas-Boas’ side need at least two goals if they are to advance to the next round of the competition.
That being said, Fernando Torres will have an opportunity to seal his place in Spain’s Euro 2012 side with a solid performance versus Napoli.
Will Fernando Torres be featured in Spain’s Euro 2012 side?
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