MADRID: Chelsea striker Fernando Torres is targeting the English Premier League title after a year of ups and downs which culminated in triumphs for the Spaniard in the Champions League, FA Cup and at Euro 2012.
“I would love to win a Premier League,” Torres, who has just joined up with his club team mates for a pre-season training camp in the United States, said on his personal website on Tuesday.
“Hopefully it will happen this year, but for sure we will be challenging for it,” added the 28-year-old, who ended the season on a spectacular high, including winning the Euro 2012 Golden Boot award.
Chelsea’s first challenge is the season-opening Community Shield on August 12, which pits the FA Cup winners against the EPL champions, Man City.
“In my opinion, the equality between the big English teams is at a peak,” Torres said.
“That’s how the [Community Shield] will be, a battle from start to finish between two teams who are obliged to fight for everything this season in England and in Europe.”
Torres once played for Atletico Madrid and said the European Super Cup against his boyhood club at the end of next month would possibly be the most memorable match of his career.
“It’s going to be full of conflicting emotions and that’s why I am chomping at the bit to play it,” he said.
“Meeting a team that you carry in your heart has to be different: a European final with a title at stake,”adding, “That’s not bad, is it?”
Kaka left out
Meanwhile, Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has left Kaka out of his squad for a friendly against Oviedo later on Tuesday, increasing speculation that the underperforming Brazilian playmaker is poised to leave the club.
According to local media reports, Kaka met Mourinho and Real director general Jose Angel Sanchez yesterday and was told he was not guaranteed a place in the starting lineup this season and should seek alternative employment.
The 2007 World Player of the Year, who joined Real from AC Milan for a fee of around $78 million three years ago, has been linked with a move to Paris St Germain.
The 30-year-old has shown flashes of his former brilliance during his stint in Spain but has been sidelined several times by injury and mainly played second fiddle to German Mesut Ozil last season.
He suffered a miserable end to the 2011-12 Champions League campaign when he had a penalty saved in the semifinal shootout against Bayern Munich, costing Real the match. (Reuters)