The emotional journey of 'El Niño' Torres towards 'The Last Symbol'

“Deep down they have always seen me as one of them. In the end it was what it was.” Fernando Torres talks about his special connection with Atlético. And it does The boy on the most personal journey towards his origins as a footballer to tell his own story. In his own words and with his closest circle. A story that bears the title Fernando Torres: The Last Symbol, the documentary that premieres this Amazon Prime Video in Spain. “In the beginning it was light and hope for the Atléticos. He lived on a cloud. Everything was happiness ”, he told AS from the Wanda Metropolitano this week at the presentation of the feature film.

A work produced by Buendía Estudios and supported by a leisurely story about 105 minutes long that starts with unpublished images from the family archive. A jump in time to his first futsal matches back in 1992, peppered with the spirits and natural spontaneity of Flori Sanz, his mother. “He has let us be close. And we will see lights and shadows, unpublished images that not even he remembered ”, says Ignacio Corrales, CEO of the production company.

The story.

The film begins with the week before the announcement in Japan of its retirement. A countdown that articulates the entire narrative, interspersed with memories in chronological order. From the first images in which a child with extreme shyness appears at his first matches on concrete, eleven football, Mikasa balls and an initial desire to be a goalkeeper frustrated by the loss of two teeth. “All that hardened me. The change of position must be thanked to my mother ”, says Torres.

And from there to the jump to the Atleti quarry, then to the first team and finally to world stardom as the locomotive of income for the club of his life. It was the moment of the popular Pepsi advertisement that vindicated its origins. “In my neighborhood they say Pesi. That I am from Fuenla”, He said with self-confidence. “There is a moment when you have to choose. Do I want to be like Beckham? Fernando decided that he wanted to be Fernando Torres. It was decided that he would dedicate most of his efforts and without forgetting, all his energy, to football and not to advertising ”, Petón points out.

On the way to success, Luis Aragonés was a key player. “He insisted on being my teacher, my sports father. For some reason he had esteem for me. Luis phrases? Be angry with yourself if you don't play. You don't know anything about anything. You will understand what I am saying ”, he remembers from a wide repertoire.

The documentary, supported by key figures in his career, provides the testimonies of Antonio Sanz, Margarita Garay and teammates and Selección, as well as the vision, among many others, of two journalists from AS who know him well, such as Alfredo Relaño and Javier Gómez Matallanas.

Fernando Torres also offers his version of the painful and controversial departure from Liverpool to Chelsea. “I didn't have the feeling that it mattered that I left. The meeting turned into how much they were going to take out and at what time. They stab me, betray me and appear in the press. You have to find a culprit. ”, He says of the then directive. “I left my house to come here. And without Xabi Alonso, Mascherano and Benítez we were very far from the titles. I will always blame myself for not having tried to prevent the team from dismantling. I do not regret leaving because the promises and expectations that the club had offered me were not fulfilled. I understand people's reaction and anger. I did not think about everything that was around. I chose the site that I thought would bring me closer to the titles, which was what I was missing, “he argues.

And in between curiosities such as the three attempts to sign Real Madrid. “I have never spoken with Real Madrid. It's a matter of principles. I think that this is a betrayal of a way of seeing things and understanding football, ”says Torres. Or his obsession with cutting his hair when the scoring streak did not accompany him. “When things didn't go well, he cut his hair. He had a scissor superstition, ”says Matallanas.

The path ends with withdrawal. “The reason is that I was no longer enjoying it. The secret of life is trying to be happy every day in what you do ”, he explains. The ever-present rumors about the return home reappear. “I'll be back when I can help,” Torres repeats tirelessly. It is the journey of The Child to The Last Symbol. Atleti always looms on the horizon.