Breakout Year
Torres celebrating a goal. (Image courtesy of who ate all the pies tv)
A compilation of all the Torres goals in 2003-04. (Video Courtesy of Ivan El Nino)
After a good first year in La Liga, Torres had a breakout season in 2003-04. He scored 19 goals in 35 games and was the third highest scorer in the league.
His goals helped the team finish in seventh place which secured UEFA Cup qualification. An impressive achievement for a team who had recently been in the second division.
His exploits led him to be named captain of the team at 19.
But, the local boy later revealed that he was not happy with this achievement at such a young age.
"Other great players turned up who had much more experience then I did," said Torres in his autobiography. "Because of the way the squad was at Atletico, I had been promoted to fast and became captain to soon."
Leaving Atletico
"A lot has been said about the night in May 2007 when Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid 6-0 at the Vicente Calderon and whether that result made up my mind to leave. The answer is yes."
Fernando Torres in his autobiography
Highlights of Barcelona vs Atletico. The game that made up Torres' mind to leave. (Video courtesy of Łukasz Mizeracki)
A goal against Real Madrid. The game finished 1-1. GIF made from video courtesy of Youlanda Hagopian
What would prompt the ultimate Atletico fan to leave his boyhood club? The answer is simple. A lack of ability to compete for the biggest trophies.
Torres was starting to stagnate at Atletico. For the rest of his time there, he didn't break 19 goals and his team never finished above 7th place in the table.
Torres admitted in his book that he didn't feel like Atletico could match his ambition.
All of this was seen in a game against Barcelona at home.
In the highlights (video on the left), Atletico were simply outmatched.
They could not keep up with Barcelona's speed of passing and they were cut apart by the Catalans.
Torres knew that it would take years for Atletico to reach Barcelona's level.
"I reached the conclusion that to compete with Barcelona (...) it would take 5 to 8 years," said Torres in his autobiography. " That 6-0 defeat brought home just how far we were from what I wanted the club to be."
While the decision was a pragmatic one, it didn't make it any easier.
Just before he left for Liverpool FC. A tearful Torres called a press conference to say goodbye.
He may have left for England, but his Atletico journey was far from over.