Torres’ importance to Spain on the wane

Once Spain’s golden boy, Fernando Torres’ scoring slump may be threatening his chances of helping defend his country’s European title next summer.

Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque left the Chelsea striker in the stands for the first time for Tuesday’s Euro 2012 qualifier against Liechtenstein, favouring the in-form Alvaro Negredo and David Villa to spearhead the attack, with Fernando Llorente starting on the bench.

Del Bosque made it clear after Spain’s 6-0 rout that Torres’ past success will not be enough to regain his leading role with the world champions. “[Torres] is an important player, but those who stand out with their clubs will get the call to the national team, not the other way around,” the former Real Madrid coach said.

The 27-year-old Torres has been heavily criticised for scoring just a single goal since his £50 million move to Chelsea from Liverpool last January. His troubles, however, have been even greater with Spain.

Torres netted the winner in the 1-0 Euro 2008 final win over Germany, but a nagging injury has left him struggling to break into the team ever since. His last goals for Spain came on 3 September last year when he scored a double in a 4-0 win in Liechtenstein. Torres has watched Barcelona striker Villa become Spain’s all-time top scorer and Negredo of Sevilla and Llorente of Athletic Bilbao jump ahead of him in the pecking order.

Negredo, who scored a double to spark Spain’s thrashing of Liechtenstein this week, said he understood Torres’ difficult position. “[Torres] came down to the locker room after the game and congratulated me,” Negredo said. “I am not going to get into whether he was upset or not. I would understand it if he were, because it is not pleasant to come and then not play a minute. But he is a great team-mate and one of the national team’s captains.”