Fernando Torres went from hero to zero as the Spain striker’s troubled spell at Chelsea continued with an embarrassing miss in his side’s 3-1 defeat at Manchester United.
Torres seemed to be having a rare day to remember in a Chelsea shirt as he scored just his second goal for the Blues since his British-record of $76 million transfer from Liverpool in January.
His cool, chipped finish over David de Gea just after half-time gave Chelsea a glimmer of hope after United’s three-goal salvo in the first half, and gave him a just reward for an enterprising display.
Yet he reverted to the clumsy form that has seen him written off as the biggest transfer flop in Barclays Premier League history.
Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas refused to condemn Torres for the howler, insisting the mistake was no worse than Wayne Rooney’s penalty miss earlier in the match.
“You have an example of Rooney missing a penalty, too, which is basically the same,” he said.
“The worst things happen to the best strikers in the world, and today it happened to both of them.”
United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was convinced Torres would score because he had plenty of time to pick his spot.
“I thought he was bound to score,”Ferguson said.
“It was a bad miss.
“He had so much time.”
Buford Balony says: Money well spent Chelski.
