By Justin Palmer
LONDON, April 29 (Reuters) – It was hard to tell who was
happier at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, Chelsea striker Fernando
Torres revelling in his hat-trick or owner Roman Abramovich
sporting a smile wider than the gulf in class between his side
and hapless Queens Park Rangers.
Torres blew kisses and saluted the crowd after his second
and third goals in the 6-1 Premier League rout and tucked away
high up in the stand, unshaven Russian oligarch Abramovich was
just as enigmatic.
Abramovich, like Torres, has spent much of the season with a
furrowed brow with poor form and player unrest leading to the
dismissal of coach Andre Villas-Boas in early March.
That sombre expression appears to have long gone. He greeted
Torres’s hat-trick with vigorous high-fives, ending a week in
which the billionaire owner can look forward to a Champions
League final, an FA Cup final and the remainder of a Premier
League season in which his side are still chasing a top four
finish.
A free-scoring Torres can only have enhanced his mood.
While Abramovich must ponder whether to appoint Italian
Roberto Di Matteo as coach on a permanent basis after inspiring
a revival since the sacking of Villas-Boas, he can finally relax
about his expensive Spanish striker.
Torres has misfired at Chelsea since he moved for a British
record transfer fee of 50 million pounds ($81.19 million)from
Liverpool in January last year, but appears to have regained the
form that made him one of the most feared and clinical frontmen
in Europe.
“It’s a different feeling to what I had,” Torres told Sky
Sports after his hat-trick, which followed his goal in the
Champions League semi-final against Barcelona on Tuesday.
“In the past I was feeling very good, my fitness was very
sharp and I was playing very well but I couldn’t score.
“But now, to be honest, I feel I’m not playing as good as
before but I’m scoring goals which is the most important thing
for strikers.”
Torres, 28, has struggled for goals ever since leaving
Liverpool.
It took him until late April last season to get off the mark
and before today he only had eight to his name this season, with
just three of those in the Premier League.
Finding himself often among the substitutes, as he had under
Carlo Ancelotti and then Villas-Boas, is now likely to be a
thing of the past under Di Matteo.
Torres said Chelsea had hit top form at just the right time.
“We knew we needed to finish in the top four and win all the
games for rest of the season,” he said.
“I am very happy with three (goals), hopefully the first of
many, but the more important thing for me is the team looks like
they are playing their best football of the season with
important games to come.”
(Editing by Dave Thompson)
