Fernando Torres May Not Be Back, but He Is Back Home

A goal is a gift. Its specialness and scarcity are the game's central tension. The instant when it seems like one will arrive is happy terror: a perfect pass expunges the defense and your mind finishes the play before it ends. Here it is! you think. Then the striker clumsily thwacks the ball over the crossbar, causing you to run your fingers through your hair and curse. You are never so angry as you are at a player who goes right up to the edge of transforming your anxiety into jubilation, then doesn't.

Fernando Torres has specialized in inflicting this sort of frustration on fans over the past few seasons. Once a prolific clinician, persistent knee injuries have taken away a bit of his speed and some unkind spirit has stolen more than a bit of his confidence. At Chelsea, his first touches were heavy as cannonballs, and he disappeared from games for long stretches, making runs to nowhere, exuding loneliness. Even worse, he contracted Steve Blass disease of the foot, scuffing and shanking whatever chances fell to him in increasingly comical ways. In short, he fell the fuck off. El Niño was dropped from José Mourinho's starting lineup, then dropped from the squad altogether. He spent the second half of 2014 exiled in Milan. Unsurprisingly, he did not recover his shooting boots in the bosom of Italy's most thoroughly discombobulated club.

Strikers are curious animals. They make their names on a mysterious talent that allows them, as a defender is bearing down, to calmly pull the ball back, sending their opponent sliding out of the frame, and then to fire it through the keeper's legs. It's these smooth, brief moments of genius that define a striker. On Thursday night at the Santiago Bernabéu, Fernando Torres had such a moment. It was his second goal, and it killed Real Madrid's run in the Copa del Rey. It must have felt at once familiar and strange, like he was remembering how to set things on fire with his mind. The pictures inspired déjà vu: Torres in red and white, with a striker's finish.

What is it about Fernando and Atlético Madrid? It's a lot of things: that he joined the club at 10 years old; that he was a source of hope during two seasons of Segunda hell; that he repeatedly chose to stay when other clubs came calling; that even after leaving, he continued to ride for Atleti. He always spoke well of the fans, always left open the possibility of a homecoming. And, gosh, he scored a lot of goals: 82 of them in 214 games, playing for teams that had difficulty cracking the top half of La Liga. Atleti's primary tactical plan circa 2004 was to hang on for dear life and pray Torres could perform magic. He did so with regularity.

At his presentation a couple weeks ago, Torres held a microphone and told 45,000 well-wishers at the Vicente Calderón: "One day, you will have to tell me what I have done to deserve this." He was referencing the fans' gratitude, but it's easy to imagine him saying the same thing beneath his breath at Stamford Bridge, after squibbing yet another a shot wide of the post. Even the most optimistic Torres boosters know their hero is not the ebullient kid who left for Liverpool seven years ago. He's unquestionably damaged goods; the only argument is over the extent of the damage.

There's an inkling he was brought back because he had no place else to go. (When Milan no longer want you, you're perilously close to retirement or MLS.) But Diego Simeone insisted, when the move was made, that Torres would be able to contribute meaningfully. Simeone also made it clear Torres is no savior. In fact, he's probably not even a regular starter, given that Atleti already have Mario Mandžukić. Niño will be asked to play the role of a dutiful cog in a counterattacking system that would seem to suit him. He will have an abundance of help. This Colchoneros squad is about as strong as any in the club's history.

To receive someone's faith is one of the great feelings you can experience. It's a psychic bulletproof vest, to know that no matter what you do, you will be supported. Fernando Torres is receiving and will continue to receive faith at Atlético Madrid. He is the rare athlete--Xavi at Barcelona, Kobe with the Lakers--who has accrued more goodwill than he could possibly squander. Perhaps this is the emotional environment he needs in order to find something like his previous form. His night at the Bernabéu suggests this might be the case. But whether he smolders or flames out, Torres' return is a gift in and of itself to everyone who watched him grow up on the banks of the Manzanares. The goals are appreciated, too.