[dst]

Fernando Torres left Milan, rather than Inter, red faced in the Champions League. Antonio Labbate explains why

(IMG:http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/blogs/torres460.jpg)

Despite Inter’s Champions League exit, there must surely have been more than an ounce of regret amongst the Milanista faction of Italian society on Tuesday night. Sure, their eternal rivals had been dumped out of Europe yet again, but it was the fact that Fernando Torres played such a key role in Liverpool’s 3-0 aggregate win which should see certain questions being asked of the Diavolo hierarchy.

It’s no secret that El Nino was a player who Milan had seriously looked at in the past. The story goes that Rossoneri stalwart Demetrio Albertini first alerted the San Siro giants to Torres in 2002 after his own switch to the youngster’s previous club, Atletico Madrid. The Spaniard was just a kid at the time, 18 to be exact, but Albertini had played alongside enough talent throughout his career to spot a star in the making.

The former Italian international, despite being rudely shown the door by a club he adored, suggested that Torres would be an excellent investment for the future. However, Milan failed to make a concrete move. Even during transfer negotiations between the two clubs over other players, Torres never arrived at San Siro. It looks to be a costly mistake.

Torres joined Liverpool last summer for £21.5m. Big money? No, a snip really when you consider that Milan handed over £15m plus the £3m-rated Johann Vogel to Real Betis for Ricardo Oliveira in 2006. While the latter is back in Spain with Real Zaragoza, Fernando is delivering goals and performances which turn good players into great ones.

In the two clashes against Inter, Torres left his mark. He got Marco Materazzi sent off in the first leg and then struck the killer blow at San Siro in the return. And while Milan’s own Champions League campaign came to a lacklustre ending against Arsenal last week, Torres’ European Cup adventure continues.

The Rossoneri have clearly invested wisely in the past by gambling on Kaka and, in all probability, Alexandre Pato, but there must surely be a touch of remorse about the one who got away. To some fans, Torres’ goal against the Nerazzurri will still make him a Rossoneri idol. The problem is that he became one wearing the red of Liverpool rather than their own mythical jersey.

I never heard of this before. I mean Albertini advising Milan to get him... it could be possible. There have been rumors that Milan were following him but nothing concrete... if we hesitated then we can only blame ourselves... but I guess we "are fine as we are"... At least he is a Pool fan so I don't feel so bad about it. I'm not going to cry over this we should instead look elsewhere and learn to listen to what Albertini has to say... (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

Also, for the record, Albertini was not shown the door, he opened it himself.

This post has been edited by dst: Mar 12 2008, 04:14 PM