Graham Hunter offers Revista the lowdown on Fernando Torres being left out of Spain's squad.
Del Bosque a genial man but a ruthless manager, says Hunter
Spain coach Vicente del Bosque took the bold step of leaving struggling Chelsea striker Fernando Torres out of his squad for Wednesday's clash with Venezuela in Malaga - and the reaction to the decision has been mixed.
Torres has failed to make his mark at Stamford Bridge thus far - going over 22 hours of game time without a goal as pressure on Blues manager Andre Villas-Boas to salvage something from an indifferent season mounts.
The 27-year-old looks a shadow of the striker who clinically netted the winning goal of Euro 2008, and although he failed to find the net throughout the 2010 World Cup, Spain emerged victorious to cement their place as the best national team in the world.
Warning
Del Bosque has turned to Valencia hitman Roberto Soldado in Torres' stead, and Hunter believes the move could be Del Bosque sending out a message to his squad rather than an indication that he is prepared to omit Torres from Euro 2012 altogether.
Hunter told
Revista: "Aside from his value as a fully functioning striking - and remember he's a tournament winner at both junior and senior level for Spain - there's an enormous affection for Torres among the fans, the media and the players.
"It's very much to Roberto Soldado's advantage that Torres has been dropped, yet he's been the first to say: 'I hope he makes it. I hope he's back.' I think Vicente del Bosque has made this decision because it'll be a little nudge to everyone - not just Torres - to focus, sharpen up and forget the last two tournaments.
"It's a useful piece of work from Del Bosque and I think almost everyone is hoping that things come right from him at Chelsea and that, come Euro 2012, he's back in the squad.
Hard line
"It reminds me of a conversation I had one-on-one with Del Bosque when we were just passing the time outside of a press conference. He said to me: 'I have to admit, Cesc Fabregas is really ticked off with me.' Except he didn't use the phrase 'ticked off' - it was much stronger!
"He said that Cesc had every right to be ticked off because he was at Arsenal, a leader and important - but for him, he wasn't in form, he had players who were more ready and dropping him was the way it was going to be done.
"He's a genial man, a very funny man, but he's like every successful football manager ever - like Trapattoni, Ferguson et al - in that he picks the players in form, reminds everyone to stay in form and if you don't like it, tough. You have to fight your way back in."
Recovery
Blackburn defender Michel Salgado, who won 53 caps for Spain before retiring in 2006, believes focusing on club football will be beneficial to Torres due to the pressure and expectation placed on him by the Spanish fans.
The ex-Real Madrid star said: "It's a turning point. There are two reasons in my opinion. The first reason is Soldado deserves to be there and the second reason is that the problem with Torres is mental. Mentally he's not ready to play for the national team.
"He needs time to think about what is happening with him. He's a top scorer and a top quality player. It doesn't mean he's not going to be in Euro 2012 because Del Bosque trusts him a lot and he's one of the best strikers Spain have got.
"It's better for him to be away from the national team for now so he can have three or four months to get back to his best. It's not a quality problem - it's a mental problem and what he needs is for people to stop talking about him all the time. Maybe in Spain, they will start talking about Soldado more and release Torres from that pressure."
