Fernando Torres spent the final 90 minutes of his professional career in the J-league match against Vissel Kobe featuring former teammates David Villa and Andres Iniesta, the latter who wrote a beautiful letter for the Sagan Tosu striker.
The 35 year old Spaniard’s decorated career ended yesterday at Ekimae Real Estate Stadium, and it was honoured with Iniesta’s letter, which was published in Spanish newspaper El Mundo.
The letter read: “It’s very strange, I’d say beautifully strange. Here we both are, about to play your last game as a professional.”
“I still have some left. Here we are, on the other side of the world. It’s as if life, funny as she is, had brought us all the way to Japan to say goodbye.”
The Blaugrana legend cherished the memories they spent together on field.
“Football brought us together more than 20 years ago, when we were children. Well, you will always be El Nino. And it will never separate us. We met when we had utopian dreams. That goal you scored us at the U16 European Championship with the national team in England.”
“I’ll never forget the gesture you made to dedicate that goal to me. I saw it on TV because I had to go home with an injury.”
Along with winning UEFA Champions League in 2012 with Chelsea, Torres was a crucial part of the incredible Spanish international side that lifted the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2008 and 2012 Euro Cup with Iniesta and Villa.
スペインのレジェンド達。🇪🇸@Torres @andresiniesta8 @Guaje7Villa
Spanish Legends. 🇪🇸#visselkobe #ヴィッセル神戸 #鳥栖vs神戸 #ありがトーレス pic.twitter.com/fB4Ez9b9NJ
— ヴィッセル神戸 (@visselkobe) August 23, 2019
The match ended 6-1, as Kobe forward Junya Tanaka found the back of the net from an incredible build up by Iniesta with a spectacular cross the field volley, who also scored from the spot, along with double braces from Hotaru Yamaguchi and Kyogo Furuhashi. An own goal from Vermaelen is what kept the Sagans satisfied.