Torres claimed an assist and a late 90th-minute goal as Chelsea recorded a sensational win over Manchester City at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. PHOTO: AFP
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho credited Fernando Torres with working hard to improve his own form after the Spanish striker doggedly earned his side a 2-1 win over Manchester City.
Torres has failed to perform consistently since his move from Liverpool in January 2011 and he looked set for another disappointing day after spurning a glorious early chance in Sunday’s league game.
However, he quickly atoned by teeing up Andre Schurrle for the opening goal in the 33rd minute, and after Sergio Aguero equalised for City, he capitalised on a defensive mix-up to snatch a last-minute winner.
Torres has now scored three goals in two games, having previously gone six matches without a goal in the league, but Mourinho said he could not claim any personal responsibility for the transformation.
“It was a fantastic performance and even better because it was built after an easy goal missed,” he said.
“That makes it even more valuable, because when a striker misses an easy chance, many, many times he is affected for the rest of the game.”
Mourinho added: “I did nothing. It’s easy now for me to say, ‘We did this, we did that,’ but we did nothing.
“What I know is that since I arrived, since the first day, he worked very hard every day.
“Sometimes he was on the bench, sometimes he was not selected, and sometimes I left him at home, so credit for him.”
Torres ecstatic with performance
Torres said he had been determined to make an impact on the game after blazing over the bar with only City goalkeeper Joe Hart to beat when the score was still 0-0.
On the winning goal, he told Sky Sports: “It’s a long ball; every ball has to be the most important ball of the game, because it can be the one which wins you the game.
“The chance I missed in the first-half, I thought I was offside. I should have stayed calm. I made the assist and hit the post, so I am happy with my performance.”
The victory left Chelsea in second place in the table, two points behind Arsenal, with City four points further back in seventh place.
Pellegrini rues dropping ‘stupid points’
City manager Manuel Pellegrini said his side deserved something from the match while ruing dropping ‘stupid points’ away from home.
“I don’t know if it’s the worst [result], but one of the worst, because I thought we played well,” he told Sky Sports. “Especially in the second-half we had control of the game. We made an important mistake.
“I think that we played a very good game. In the first half they had one chance and they scored, and they also had the shot that hit the crossbar.
“But I think in the second- half we had two or three clear chances to score.”
Standings
Team P W GD Pts
Arsenal 9 7 11 22
Chelsea 9 6 10 20
Liverpool 9 6 9 20
Tottenham 9 6 4 19
Soton 9 5 7 18
Everton 9 5 4 18
Man City 9 5 10 16
Man United 9 4 2 14
Swansea 9 3 1 11
Hull City 9 3 -3 11
Newcastle 9 3 -4 11
West Brom 9 2 -2 10
Aston Villa 9 3 -3 10
Fulham 9 3 -3 10
West Ham 9 2 0 9
Cardiff 9 2 -5 9
Stoke 9 2 -4 8
Norwich 9 2 -7 8
Sunderland 9 1 -14 4
Palace 9 1 -13 3
Published in The Express Tribune, October 29th, 2013.
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