Champions League final in Milan is coming and Fernando Torres has labelled the match as “the game of our lives”. Even when the Atlético’s number nine has lived a lot of good experiences in this kind of decisive fixtures, to play it defending boyhood club is the biggest challenge for the striker. That is why fernando9torres.com will remember trough the next seven days left to the final those great games which made him a legend as a ‘finals specialist’.

The firs evert took place on 2001 May the 6th in England (Sunderland) playing for Spain Under-16 National Team. With an amazing 30.000 fans attendance on the stands the Spaniards got their sixth European crown beating France. Fernando Torres played a decisive role up front scoring the single goal of the game for ‘La Rojita’. He kicked clinical a penalty spot 4 minutes from time to get the win and the Top Scorer of the game award.

Torres take a look back to that days with own words: “That year I had a bad injury, I missed the preliminaries, only started the season in December and the tournament was in May but I really wanted to play. In the end when I got into the squad I was really pleased. It was similar to the Nike Cup but with the national team. You get there and they explain the draw, they show you the set up, a really nice hotel in a different town, you get the national strip with the sponsor’s name, you know you’re going to be on TV and in the Spanish papers every day, when you’re 15 or 16 you really can’t believe it.

"It was a tough tournament, we got past Italy on penalties, we beat Croatia and in the final we beat France, the favourites. We knew that if we lost everyone would forget about us but that if we won, everyone would hear about Spain and that’s how it was. The tournament had been closely followed in the press, and we were on the front page after we won…there are some things you’ll never forget. After the championship I got into the senior squad", says Torres.

Check here to check Spain’s evolution in the U-16 Euro 2001.