If Fernando Torres does nothing else of note during his Atletico Madrid swansong – this will be more than enough.
He scored his first-ever goal at the Bernabeu with practically his first touch in the first half on Thursday night and then scored a second at the restart to knock Real Madrid out of the Copa del Rey.
After one goal in four months in Italy, a painful decline at Chelsea, and a history of being the butt of Real Madrid supporters’ jokes because of his failure to score in the Madrid derby in his first spell at the club, he put the team he vowed he would never play for because of his allegiance to Atletico to the sword with two of the sweetest goals of his career.
Atletico led 2-0 from the first leg and Torres stunned the Bernabeu, smashing in left-footed after 49 seconds.
Sergio Ramos’s header levelled but, in the first minute of the second half, Torres beat Pepe to slide in a second.
Real needed three goals to win after Cristiano Ronaldo’s header but Atleti will meet Barcelona in the last eight.
Barca cruised to a 9-0 aggregate win over Elche, but for Atleti, the last-16 stage provided a stiffer test and significant bragging rights.
