Ferran Torres walked away from his finest performance in months with something still to get off his chest. Two goals in Barcelona’s 4-1 derby demolition of Espanyol ended an eight match league drought and then the striker turned his fire on the critics.
The Valencian forward was unplayable at times. He could have had a hat trick had a third goal not been ruled out. The Camp Nou roared. The title race took another step towards being sealed. And Ferran? He was not about to let the silence around his difficult spell go unaddressed.
‘There’s always external noise around me’
Speaking after the match, Ferran acknowledged the reality of his position.
“A striker is judged by goals, and I had gone a long time without scoring, and I believe in work,” he said.
Then came the shots.
“There is always external noise around me, always more about the bad than the good. It annoys them. I am always here to work.”
It was a pointed response. Ferran knows the narrative around him. Eight league games without a goal. Just one in his previous twelve Liga appearances before Saturday. The statistics do not lie.
But neither does the response. Two goals in a derby. A performance full of movement, confidence and clinical finishing. That is how you answer.
‘The league is not sentenced’
Despite Barcelona extending their lead to nine points after Real Madrid could only draw 1-1 with Girona, Ferran refused to declare the title race over.
“Until it is mathematically confirmed, the league is not sentenced,” he said.
It is the right message from a player who knows how quickly things can change. But privately? Barcelona know they have one hand on the trophy.
Fermin: ‘We can pull off the comeback’
While Ferran was dealing with the past, Fermin Lopez was looking firmly to the future.
The midfielder’s focus has already shifted to Tuesday’s Champions League second leg at the Metropolitano, where Barcelona must overturn a 2-0 deficit against Atletico Madrid.
“The fans are with us, they believe in us,” Fermin said. “Hopefully, we can pull off the comeback.
“We know it is a big deficit, but we must not slip up. It will be difficult to turn it around but we are capable and we are going to give everything until the end.”
That is the kind of belief Barcelona need. Whether they have the quality to pull it off is another matter entirely.
The bottom line
Ferran Torres is not everyone’s favourite player. He never has been. But he keeps showing up. He keeps working. And on nights like this, he keeps scoring.
The noise will return the next time he goes three games without a goal. That is the nature of playing for Barcelona.
But for one night at least, Ferran had the last word. And it clearly annoyed them.
