Torres turned down penalty offer, says Mata

Fernando Torres turned down the chance to take Chelsea’s penalty in their 2-0 FA Cup victory over Birmingham City, Juan Mata has revealed.

Mata said he offered his fellow Spaniard, who had won the penalty, the chance to score from 12 yards but that the striker insisted that they should stick to caretaker manager Roberto Di Matteo’s list of takers.

“I asked him if he wanted to take it because he had won the penalty,” Mata said.

“He said, ‘I’m not first on the list to shoot’, so that’s what happened. It was because he forced the penalty and I gave him the chance.”

Mata added that he did not think a lack of confidence led Torres to turn down the penalty.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Robbie (Di Matteo) put a paper with who shoots penalties and that was it.”

The former Valencia man also confirmed that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has spoken to the players following the departure of manager Andre Villas-Boas and urged them to keep their season alive by progressing in the FA Cup and Champions League.

“He (Abramovich) said that we have an opportunity to change this run of defeats, and against Birmingham we did, so we have to keep going and try to get better,” Mata said.

“We will try to win the FA Cup. It is a special competition. We have an opportunity to play at Wembley in the semi-final and final, which is very nice.”

“We will try to win this FA Cup and against Napoli. I think we can do it. It is possible for us to win (the second leg against Napoli) 2-0. We are going to keep giving 100 percent for the rest of the season to achieve our objectives.”

“(Winning against Birmingham) was important for the confidence of the team and it could be a new start, the beginning of a good run of results for us.”

The 23-year-old thanked outgoing boss Villas-Boas for the opportunity he had given him by bringing him to Chelsea and turning him into an integral member of the Blues’ side.

“I played a lot of minutes, a lot of games and of course he (Villas-Boas) was important for me,” Mata said.

“It’s obvious I came here for the club but for him as well. He gave me a lot of confidence and for this I am very grateful to him.”

“It’s never good news to change a manager. If this happens it’s because things have not been good, Andre was a very good manager and a very good person as well. We are very grateful to him.”