“It could be one of the best nights of my life as a footballer.” After a few difficult weeks, against Borussia Dortmund, Ferran Torres (Foios, Valencia; 24 years old) found emotional relief in his favorite place: the area. “Ferran has a great sense of goal. “He is a player who really moves very well,” Pep Guardiola used to praise him. And it’s not the only thing his coaches highlight about him. “He embodies what it means to be a mentally strong footballer,” said Xavi Hernández, while Hansi Flick praises the Valencian striker after his double against the German team: “Ferran has once again been very important for the team.”
On October 29, the dana devastated part of the province of Valencia. Footballers, in general, tend to look the other way during crises: most find it difficult to break the bubble of frivolity, too comfortable in the privileges of elite sport. It was not the case of Ferran Torres. “My heart breaks seeing my people and my land devastated by the floods. I know it is no consolation, but I want to send all my encouragement and support to the victims and their families. A lot of strength, Valencia,” he published on social networks, two days after the floods. Still injured, his anger prevented him from going to see the derby against Espanyol: “We need change in this country! I don’t have the strength today to even go to the stadium to see my teammates play. Frustration and indignation with our rulers, be they one or the other.”
And, when the recovery from the muscle injury he suffered allowed him, Ferran Torres moved to Valencia to collaborate in the work to remove the mud and clean streets, houses and businesses. “Through his family, Ferran channeled different aid to bring food, clothing and toys to people,” they explain from the Foios forward’s entourage. Also, according to the same sources, he collaborated financially with different animal protection associations.
“València not obligated”. After scoring against Betis, Ferran Torres had a message to teach under his Barça shirt. “I wanted to thank all the volunteers who came to help. This cannot be forgotten because there is a lot of work to do,” he declared after the draw against the Andalusian team. Since receiving the medical discharge on November 30 against Las Palmas, a month after the injury, Ferran Torres has participated in four games (155 minutes) and has scored four goals, the last two in the Champions League against Borussia Dortmund for Hansi Flick’s Barcelona to certify its fifth consecutive victory in the Champions League, a winning streak that the Blaugrana had not enjoyed since the 2020-2021 season, the last one with Lionel Messi in the squad.
Ferran Torres was precisely Barcelona’s first signing after Messi’s departure. After tearfully dismissing the Argentine because he did not fit into the club’s financial fair-play, Joan Laporta sent Mateu Alemany, then Barça’s director of football, to negotiate with Manchester City for Sterling. Instead, he returned with Ferran Torres for 55 million euros, plus variables. The price of his transfer has always been a controversial issue for Barcelona fans, due to its amount (high for Guardiola being discarded), but also for the moment (Messi’s goodbye to an economically wounded Barça). And Ferran, who was 21 years old at the time, suffered the roar of the Camp Nou.
But it didn’t shrink. On the contrary, he looked for the tools to work on his head, in addition to enhancing his physique. “I have learned to know how to differentiate opinions that are important from those that are not. I have worked on knowing how to manage with my psychologist, how to manage when things are going well and when they are not,” says the forward. And he is not willing to give up, not even when his name appears on the transfer list in each market. “Don’t you think a change could be good for you?” a colleague asked him last summer. “No, I want to succeed at Barcelona,” he resolved. He does not deceive, he says it both when he is wrong and when he is right. “I don’t care if they doubt me. The rest are external voices that should not be taken into account. It’s in the contract. When I’m on the field I escape from everything,” he stressed after his double against Borussia. He is the fourth Barça player to score two goals in the Champions League after starting the match on the bench. Messi (2008, against Shakhtar Donetsk), Cristian Tello (2012, against Bayer Leverkusen) and Ivan Rakitic (2015, against BATE Borisov) had already achieved it before.
“I went out to help the team because they were putting pressure on us. With all the great play the team was doing, I just had to run into space, that’s how the goals came,” Ferran Torres celebrated. An effort that his teammates thank him for—Barça had been left without legs in Dortmund, a physical deterioration symbolized by Raphinha. And it turns out that when it comes to investing in energy, Ferran Torres does not hide. Hansi Flick thanks him: “When there is a complicated situation, Ferran is someone who is going to do it very well. It has its own tempos, its own rhythm. He concentrates and works very well in games. “He has a lot of potential, he plays very well, he has a very positive mentality.” Nobody at Barcelona doubts Ferran’s unbreakable mentality, nor his ability to generate a good atmosphere in the squad. Now he also adds to the attacking power of Barça, the highest scoring team in the Champions League (21), followed by Borussia Dortmund (18) and Bayern Munich (17).
Ferran Torres’ message has not changed since he landed at Barcelona. If you need it, it will be there. The bench does not distress him, but it does not satisfy him either. This is what sports director Deco, also Hansi Flick, knows. And now Lewandowski, Raphinha and Lamine Yamal know it.
