Picking Fernando Torres over Fernando Llorente for Spain’s World Cup squad was a mistake

Fernando Torres celebrates scoring his side's third goal during the UEFA EURO 2012 final match between Spain and Italy at the Olympic Stadium

Despite having scored just five goals in the Premier League last season and just 20 since signing for Chelsea in 2011, Fernando Torres has been picked as one of three strikers to go to the World Cup with Spain.

Torres has been a huge disappointment since his £50m 2011 transfer to Chelsea but last season was quite possibly his worst since moving to London. The previous season, under Rafael Benitez, Torres seemed to come back to life. Not in the way he once was at Liverpool but there seemed to hope and spark in his performances.

Under Di Matteo and Benitez, Torres scored 22 goals in 64 appearances in a mammoth season. Last season, under Jose Mourinho, he scored 11 goals in 41 games. Quite a contrast. It goes to show that Benitez is the only man capable of getting the best from Torres.

Last season, he again suffered from a serious lack of confidence, missing countless chances and choosing to stay away from dangerous areas in the penalty area, rather than poaching for more goals. For a striker so low on confidence, the first thing he should be doing it standing inside the six-yard box and hoping to tap ins to get himself moving forward.

It was such a shock to see Torres picked for the Spain squad, especially after his awful miss during a friendly against Bolivia last week. As Torres charged through on goal, the goalkeeper came out, and all it would have taken was a slight dink over his head and it was a goal. But no, Torres overhit it massively and skewed it over the crossbar. Four years ago, that was a goal. Now? There’s much more chance of it hitting the stand behind the goal.

Spain’s options up front.

His direct competition in the Spanish squad this summer was Fernando Llorente. Diego Costa is definitely going to be first choice if he can prove his fitness while David Villa is waiting in the wings. Third choice was between Llorente, who scored 16 goals in Serie A, winning the title with Juventus, or Torres, who had been overlooked by Chelsea most of the season.

Llorente played almost 1000 more minutes that Torres in league games last season but still averaged more goals per 90 minutes. Llorente scored 0.58 goals every 90mins in Italy while Torres scored just 0.28 in England. Judging by that statistic alone, Llorente should have gone to the World Cup.

Llorente was a more prolific goalscorer last season and created more chances

Some have suggested that Torres was picked for his mobility but goals are what count most for a striker, especially in a World Cup with so much riding on one result.

Llorente also created more chances than Torres, averaging 1.77 p/90mins. The Chelsea forward wasn’t far behind with 1.65 but, again he falls just below the required standard.

Torres provides Spain with much better mobility

He is more mobile than Llorente, having completed an average of 1.88 take-ons to the Juve striker’s 0.51. Surprisingly, he also won more headed duels over 90 minute-averages last season. Torres won 3.7 to Llorente’s 3.22. However, what makes this duel success comparison more conclusive is that Llorente, overall, won 44.5% of his contested headed duels to Torres’ 46.7%. A couple of percent is a tiny difference over a whole season.

However, it remains difficult to see why and how Vicente Del Bosque could pick Torres over Llorente. It’s perhaps unjustifiable to criticise the Spanish coach, as he’s proven himself more than enough throughout his career that he knows what he’s doing, but ultimately there’s probably more chance that he’ll play Cesc Fabregas as a false 9 than Torres this summer.

It was a strange decision and Fernando Llorente will be feeling extremely hard done by for missing out.