'El Nino' made the announcement via social media.
The former Liverpool, Chelsea and Spain international striker Fernando Torres has retired from football.
Torres' career spanned 18 years and he made 110 appearances for Spain, winning the European Championship and World Cup.
Torres burst into the football conscience when playing for his home town team Athletico Madrid. He made his debut for Atletico as a teenager in 2001. Between that first appearance and 2007, Torres hit the net for Atletico 82 times, becoming a club talisman in the process.
He made his Spanish debut against Portugal in 2003. Torres represented Spain at every age-grade level from under-15 to under-21 level. Torres led the line in one of the most successful international teams in history. El Nino appeared for Spain at every major tournament for a decade from the Euros in 2004 to the World Cup in 2014. Torres scored in both the European Championships final in 2008 final, when he was man-of-the-match, and in 2012, securing the Golden Boot in the latter. He is the third-highest scorer in Spanish International football history behind Raul and David Villa.
Record
Torres joined Liverpool for a then club transfer record fee in 2007. In Fernando Torres' debut season with Liverpool in 2007-08, the Spaniard scored 33 goals. Only Mohamed Salah (44 in 2017-18) has ever scored more in his debut season for the Merseysiders. Torres was at his most potent at Liverpool scoring 65 times in 102 appearances, despite suffering injuries during that period.
Another transfer record was broken when Torres moved to Chelsea. It was a British club record £50 million splashed out by Roman Abramovich. Chelsea was where Torres won his first major trophies, picking up Champions League, UEFA Cup and FA Cup medals.
Injuries
Injuries took their toll on El Nino and at Chelsea, his powers had clearly waned. He was sent on loan to Milan in 2014, a move made permanent the following season. He scored only once for the Rossoneri. Milan loaned him back to his boyhood club Atletico in 2015 and he moved back to the Estadio Vincente Calderon in 2016.
His second spell ironically led to more medals than his first spell, securing a Europa League winners medal in 2018 and a Champions' League silver medal in 2016.
He moved to Japan in 2018, scoring three times in 28 appearances for Sagan Tosu. He announced his decision to finish one of the most incredible careers in modern football in the Japanese city yesterday.
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