Chelsea star: I fell out of love with football

Chelsea star Fernando Torres admitted that he had fallen out of love with football during last season.

The Blues striker was looking doubtful about reaching Euro 2012 with Spain after he was dropped from the squad for their friendly against Venezuela.

“Del Bosque phoned me before dropping me for the Venezuela friendly and I fully understood. I had lost some of my love for being at work,” he said.

“I had stopped setting an example to younger players, which is something I was taught to do at Atletico Madrid.

“Being picked for Spain had become a habit. Now it is a prize again.”

Torres was delighted after he scored twice for Spain against the Republic of Ireland on Thursday.

“I was pleased with my personal performance and very happy to have scored but I’m mainly happy because the team won.

“We’re confident now because we feel as strong as ever, because we played well. We have to keep playing like this.

“We knew scoring early would set us up well. We needed the comfort that brought us. That got rid of the doubts and opened up the game.”