Atletico Madrid’s Fernando Torres could make his return in a heated derby with Real Madrid this evening in the last 16 of the King’s Cup if he looks sharp in training, coach Diego Simeone said.
The former Atletico captain, who played 244 games for his home-town club after he debuted aged 17, has signed an 18-month loan deal from AC Milan, which became effective when the Italian transfer market opened yesterday.
“He will train with us, play a bit of football and we will see how he is,” Simeone said.
Torres was an Atletico emblem who left the stuttering club in 2007 to seek his fortune at Liverpool and Chelsea, and has now returned to a side that broke the duopoly of Real Madrid and Barcelona by winning La Liga last season.
The success under Simeone has brought a new perspective to the Madrid derby, which Real had become used to winning at a canter.