By Rob HughesLife's no beach for the modern sporting professional. One week after the Euro 2008 final in Vienna, half a week after being feted in Madrid as the scorer of the goal that won Spain's first major soccer trophy in 44 years, Fernando Torres is focused again on improving himself in England.
It will be hard to top his first season at Liverpool, where he scored 33 times, a record for a foreign player entering the most physically demanding league of them all. Yet there is a manager waiting for him - as it happens, he is a Spaniard, Rafael Benitez - and Torres on Saturday told the club's Web site: "There are days when you think, my God, this guy doesn't let you breathe. After you score 20, Benitez is at it during the next training sessions, and stays on top of you all day, all week."
He added: "He tells you to go off and do new exercises. I want progress in life, not to relax, not be complacent, and sometimes you need someone telling you to keep at it. You don't always fancy someone that close but in the long term everybody will thank him for it."
So, the Spanish fiesta was as short as it was sweet. Luis Aragonés, the coach who orchestrated it, has flown, at 70 years of age, to start a fresh challenge in charge of Fenerbahce in Istanbul. The Barcelona trio of Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta and Carles Puyol, their brief summer of unification with the Madrid players done and dusted, are headed back to a new setup, a new coach, a different, post-Ronaldinho approach to winning and not just entertaining.
He is one player who never got near the beaches this summer, one of the envied millionaires who, even at the Champagne moments in Vienna and Madrid, was reminded that his priority is to his club. Liverpool expects its team first and foremost to try to win the English title, and that hasn't happened in almost two decades.
Torres and Steven Gerrard are the fulcrum players, and their preseason starts with a friendly game at nearby Tranmere on Saturday, followed by warm-up matches on tour at Lucerne, Krakow, Berlin and Glasgow Rangers.
It could be more demanding. Some of Liverpool's rivals will tour Asia, America or Africa, mixing preseason training with selling the club's brands in different time zones, cultures and climates.
However, there will be no let up from the coach or from the demanding Liverpool captain, Gerrard.
"I really admire him, Steve," Torres said. "I know the pressure he is under every day. Everybody is talking about him all day long, in the changing room, in the pubs, in the stadium."
He added: "People look at you from a distance and challenge you with their eyes. Everyone looks at Steve to show leadership, and having been in a similar position with Atletico Madrid, I think it's incredible the way he carries himself regardless of what is going on. He has shown me how to be a great leader."
Copyright © 2008 the International Herald Tribune All rights reserved
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